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Breeding insects at Sellafield Ltd storage ponds

Date released
19 March 2020
Request number
202002071
Release of information under
Freedom of Information Act 2000

Information requested

In 2012 it was identified that significant numbers of breeding insect populations were present in contaminated areas in the vicinity of Sellafield Ltd storage ponds. These insects were believed to be the source of contamination of swallows on the Sellafield Site. According to Sellafield Ltd at the time, ‘the levels of radioactivity discovered were very low and there was "no threat" to public health’.

Questions:

  • In the light of that event, has remedial work been undertaken to remove or cover-up the source of contamination, and can you detail the work that has been carried out?
  • How successful has this work been in removing and/or covering up the contamination?
  • Is there no longer a problem?
  • Is the source of the contamination due to a leak, legacy operations or both
  • Have steps been taken to eradicate the problematic insect populations
  • If these steps have been taken, can you detail them, and how successful have these operations been.
  • How have you measured the degree of success in reducing these is problems, what metrics have you used and continue to use?
  • Can you provide evidence
  • Do you have charts or graphs that statistically show the year on year improvements in relation to this problem or was the problem resolved more quickly?
  • Have follow up checks been carried out
  • Have there been any other incidents involving contaminated insects passing on contamination to swallows since 2012?
  • Have these problems been replicated in local communities?
  • Have you carried out a survey that demonstrates the insects have not been carried off-site by winds and that contamination is not present in the local communities?

Information released

We can confirm that we may hold the information requested. However following a sampling exercise, gathering it together is likely to involve a cost in excess of the £600 limit set by the government in Section 12 of the FOIA .

You may wish to contact the following organisations who may hold the information that you require:

The Environment Agency
Address: Environment Agency
National Customer Contact Centre PO Box 544 Rotherham S60 1BY
Email: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk
Telephone: 03708 506 506
Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency

Public Health England
Address: Public information access office Public Health England Wellington House 133-155 Waterloo Road London SE1 8UG
Email: enquiries@phe.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 7654 8000
Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england

Further Information:

Section 16 of the FOIA - Duty to advise and assist

If the Environment Agency or Public Health England are unable to help, you may wish to refine your request in attempt to bring it within the set limit.

Due to the size of the Sellafield site it may help with refining your request by specifying which facility or building you are referring to and a particular time period. However, due to the number of questions you have listed and the volume of material involved, in addition to the difficulty in accessing it, we are unable to guarantee that a refined request will come within the time limit stipulated in the FOIA. We therefore recommend that you contact the organisations detailed above first to seek the information you require.

Please note that in accordance with Section 1(3) of the FOIA  we are not under any further obligation to respond until you have provided the appropriate refinement.

Exemptions applied

Section 12 and 16

PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable

N/A