Sellafield emissions 'reduced'

Sellafield will be decommissioned over the next 10 years

The Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria is significantly reducing radioactive discharges, a new report says.

The reductions follow tough new rules on waste levels, which are monitored by the Environment Agency.

The agency said discharges were within government guidelines and had "fallen substantially" since the 1970s.

The site will have to conform to even tougher limits on emissions in the run up to the plant's decommissioning.

Environment Agency chief executive Baroness Young said: "Issuing the new authorisation now means that we will achieve real and lasting improvements in environmental regulation of the site.

Site clean-up

"This will bring substantial benefits to the public and enhance environmental protection.

"The new and significantly strengthened controls will allow a more transparent and flexible approach to the regulation of the site.

"This will be very important in the future when the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority takes over the site ownership and accelerates the site clean-up programme."

Sellafield currently employs around 11,500 people, but a predicted 8,000 jobs will go as the reprocessing plant is decommissioned over the next 10 years.

The recently-created Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), will be based in west Cumbria.