United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
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The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) was established in 1954 as a statutory corporation to oversee and pioneer the development of nuclear energy within the United Kingdom. It is now an executive non-departmental public body within the Department for Business, Enterprise, & Regulatory Reform.
The Authority made pioneering developments in nuclear power, overseeing the peaceful development of nuclear technology and performing much scientific research.
In the late 1980s, UKAEA was put into Trading Fund mode, where it was required to act and account as though it were a commercial enterprise. In the 1990s the Authority was split, with the more commercial parts transferred into a public company AEA Technology, which was then floated on the London Stock Exchange, while the parts directly related to nuclear liabilities that would need decommissioning were retained.
Its modern role is to decommission nuclear facilities used for the UK's research and development program and restore the environment of the sites. Since the early 1990s UKAEA has completed more decommissioning work than anyone in Europe, and has had considerable success in regenerating former nuclear sites for commercial use.
UKAEA also operates UK and European fusion power research programs at Culham in Oxfordshire, including the world's most powerful fusion device, the Joint European Torus. The research aims to develop fusion as a commercially viable, environmentally sound energy source for the future.
UKAEA site locations:
The UKAEA is funded mainly by the Department for Business, Enterprise, & Regulatory Reform.
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[edit] Dounreay
In the 1950s, UKAEA dug a tunnel under the seabed, through which liquid effluent from Dounreay would be discharged. In order to transport the waste to the tunnel, UKAEA constructed a 200-ft shaft a few yards behind the cliffs. The hole was unsealed and groundwater could flow in and out. Geologists also confirmed that coastal erosion could destroy the shaft within 100 years. However, in 1959 the British government gave UKAEA permission to use this shaft as a dump for radioactive materials.
In 1977, the shaft exploded, blowing the lid off and scattering hot particles. After rumours of the accident reached the press, UKAEA issued a news release entitled “Minor incident at solid waste facility”.
In 1997, two fragments of fissile material from Dounreay were found on Sandside beach, 3km away. By 2006, sixty-eight particles had been detected. However, the man who owned the beach - Geoffrey Minter - claimed at the time that the finds represented a small fraction of the contamination, as UKAEA’s robots had been scanning the beach only once a month and only to a depth of around 10 centimetres.
In 1998, the Guardian discovered that a second hole had been dug, and was still in use despite the demands by government inspectors that it be closed.
In 2003 a Scottish court found that UKAEA had failed in its duty of care to local people by releasing the particles into the environment.
In 2005, regulators reported 250 safety failures had taken place at the UKAEA's Dounreay site, since 1999.
In 2006, UKAEA was fined £2m for spilling radioactive waste at the Dounreay site. A further independent report into operations at Dounreay showed that fissile waste was being stored in paint tins.
[edit] Board
Lady Barbara Thomas Judge (chair)
[edit] See also
- Atomic Energy Research Establishment
- BNFL
- Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
- Nuclear power in the United Kingdom
- UK Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary
- Greenpeace
- CND
[edit] External links
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