The Sunday Mirror reports today of yet another potentially serious leak affecting worker safety at Sellafield which was not publicly released two years ago.

A whistleblower told the paper that an elevated level of nitrogen which can cause asphyxiation was released in the most dangerous building on the site – the Magnox nuclear storage facility which is also leaking contaminated water into the ground.

As I reported in Byline Times last month the 100 year clean up is already 13 years behind schedule and £20 billion over budget and its own nuclear safety experts say is becoming increasingly unsafe. The article is here.

What is disturbing is that the whistleblower told the newspaper. “It was most serious because it could have killed somebody. The whole point of having all these safety procedures is to stop people breathing in inert gas, so we can evacuate before there’s a chance of breathing it in.”

The source said the leak in May 2023 was raised as an incident report and “was of a level that needed to be escalated”. But it was not escalated, according to the whistleblower, who added that “no lessons were learned”.

The source said: “There is no confidence or trust in the senior management now. We are dealing with nuclear waste and people are afraid to speak up. The problem is that people are being victimised if they report safety issues.

“Or they are escalated to managers who then try to cover them up or sweep them under the carpet. And that is a really dangerous culture in a place like Sellafield.”

This new disclosure just comes after a report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee that was highly critical of the management at Sellafield and the oversight of the dangerous site by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. It was also highlighted safety issues as the buildings reach the end end of their life span and MPs were sceptical of claims by the senior management that relations with staff are improving and a toxic culture of bullying and harassment had been stopped.

Officially Sellafield told the paper:”This was reported and investigated swiftly and thoroughly. Our regulator was informed in line with established protocols,” they said. “Our Safecall system remains independent providing a safe and confidential reporting system for the whole of the NDA group.

“Whistleblowers are respected, protected, and valued and we actively encourage employees to report matters of concern. Without exception, issues raised are taken seriously, investigated appropriately, and treated confidentially. We strongly advise anyone with a concern about a safety event or investigation to report it so we can act on it.”

They added that during routine testing of a nitrogen delivery system in the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo in 2023, a control valve was opened causing a ‘brief increase in flow and pressure of nitrogen’.

‌ The paper reports that Ex-Sellafield HR consultant Alison McDermott raised safety concerns in an employment tribunal in 2021. The management ended and her contract and spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money to undermine her concerns at employment tribunals.

Alison, who lives near Ilkley, West Yorks, said: “In my experience, leaders cover up problems and lash out at people who speak out. That’s a terrifying state of affairs at a nuclear site. In my 30 years in HR it’s the most secretive, punitive toxic culture I’ve ever experienced.”

To my mind it suggests that Sellafield still has a very long way to go to convince Parliament and the public that they are handling safety issues properly at this plant.