Sellafield Ltd has worked very closely with several key stakeholders to find the best way of dealing with high burn up fuel.

The company uses a process called Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) and this wasimplemented. The decision was taken to continue reprocessing and as a result of this the site aerial
discharge limit for Antimony 125 has been exceeded (subject to analytical confirmation). However, this was a conscious decision based on best environmental practice.
The environmental impact of the aerial discharges of Antimony 125 is insignificant, even beyond the discharge limit.

The dose to the critical local group is in the region of 0.3 microseiverts per year, which compares with an average of 2,400 microseiverts from natural sources of radioactivity or 140 microseiverts from a
transatlantic return flight.

The impact on the vast majority of people would be even less. Confirmation of the results is expected around 29th September when all analysis and accountancy measures are completed.
The source of the discharge is associated with the decanning of irradiated fuel in the Magnox Fuel Handling Plant.

Magnox reprocessing operations were halted briefly in June, before resuming on the basis that it was the best long term environmental option. Sellafield Ltd is obliged to apply the principles of Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) to all of our operations on the Sellafield site.
The company continue to work closely with the Environment Agency, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and other key stakeholders to find a long
term solution to the issue of the Antimony 125 discharge limit.

The organisation has asked the EA to raise the discharge limit and we await the outcome of that request.

However, the existing limit cannot be revised formally until a European Community opinion, required under Article 37 of the Euratom Treaty, has been received. In the meantime, the justification for continued reprocessing of nuclear fuel identified in the BPM case has been accepted by the regulators.

The issue has been given a classification of INES level 1 (anomaly).