Claims Sellafield safety at risk over 'culture of secrecy'

Whistleblower says dangerous gas leak 'could have killed'

- BY JEREMY ARMSTRONG

SAFETY at the UK's biggest nuclear site is under threat due to a culture of secrecy and "cover-ups", according to a source.

They told of a potentially deadly incident in which nitrogen gas, which can cause asphyxiation, was released at the Sellafield’s Magnox storage facility.

The incident was covered up, the whistleblower claimed, adding that staff are afraid to raise safety issues because they fear they will be “targeted”.

It happened at the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo at Sellafield in Cumbria, where waste products from used nuclear fuel rods are stored.

A fault on indicator readings led to nitrogen contaminating five workers' shoes, the source said.

The noise from the nitrogen release - which was 10 times the amount of gas needed for a “routine job” - was so loud the workers could not hear the alarms on their personal oxygen monitors, the source said.