I have not been informed of any incident at THORP on 25 October 1993. However, I have been informed of two incidents at THORP since testing began on 2 September 1993. The first leak, which occurred on 7 September, involved the release of nitrogen dioxide gas. There was no release of radioactive material. Although this incident was not formally reportable, my Department received some details of the incident on the following day. My Department wrote to the UK Department of the Environment on that day also seeking a full explanation of the incident and the results of any official investigation into the incident when available. My Department received further information about the incident on 28 October 1993 but the report of the investigations being carried out by the Health and Safety Executive is not yet to hand.
The second incident, which occurred on 18 October 1993, involved a minor seepage of about one litre of low level uranyl nitrate liquid from a pump into a fully enclosed area. The liquid was being used for testing purposes and was quickly cleared up. No release of radioactivity to the environment occurred. Although this incident was not formally reportable by British Nuclear Fuels to the UK Department of the Environment my Department sought and received full details of the incident following press reports of the incident.
