The Beirut explosion was frightening, and the damage devastating enough, resembling a scaled down atomic blast. But what if radioactive materials had been involved?
That was on the minds of many when bomb disposal teams arrived at — and personnel were evacuated from —the Sellafield nuclear site in the UK, after dangerous and potentially explosive chemicals were found there last week. Organic peroxide — an unstable compound that can ignite a runaway scenario — was removed from the Magnox Reprocessing Plant, which separates plutonium from irradiated reactor fuel.
As UK nuclear expert, David Lowry, points out, Sellafield has 154 tons of plutonium stored on site as well as “huge quantities of highly radioactive and chemically toxic liquid nuclear waste stored in decrepit tanks.” More