Decommissioning
Sellafield's biggest decommissioning challenges relate to the leftovers of the early nuclear research and nuclear weapons programmes. Sellafield houses "the most hazardous industrial building in western Europe" (building B30) and the second-most (building B38), which hold a variety of leftovers from the first Magnox plants in ageing ponds. Some of the problems with B38 date back to the 1972 miners' strike: the reactors were pushed so hard that waste processing could not keep up, and "cladding and fuel were simply thrown into B38's cooling ponds and left to disintegrate." Some of the problems date back to the original nuclear weapons programme at Sellafield, when Piles 1 and 2 were constructed at breakneck speed, and safe disposal was not a priority. Building B41 still houses the aluminium cladding for the uranium fuel rods of Piles 1 and 2, and is modelled on a grain silo, with waste tipped in at the top and argon gas added to prevent fires.
In 2009 Sellafield decommissioning accounts for 40% of the budget of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority - over £1.1bn. Sellafield decommissioning and waste disposal is expected to cost the taxpayer £1.5bn per year for many years.
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