Workers at hazardous nuclear waste site test positive for drugs

Seven workers at the hazardous Sellafield nuclear waste site have tested positive for drugs over the past twelve months.

Three have tested positive for alcohol, raising questions over safety at the site Cumbria which manages spent fuel from Britain’s nuclear reactors.

Four of the positive drugs tests and one of the positive alcohol tests followed random testing, carried out on 741 workers between November 2021 and November 2022.

The others followed “for cause” testing, where a worker is suspected of being impaired by drugs or alcohol, carried out on 36 people over the same period.

The figures were released to The Telegraph following a Freedom of Information request. It did not reveal what action had been taken against those who tested positive.

Sellafield is considered one of the most hazardous nuclear sites in the world, according to the Office for Nuclear Regulation, handling more radioactive material per square meter than any site in Europe.

The site is run by the government-owned company Sellafield Ltd, which employs about 11,000 people.

Some 6,000 contractors also work on site, storing and processing waste fuel as well as cleaning up the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo where waste fuel-rod casings were dumped for decades.

The company’s annual report says nuclear safety is its “overriding priority” but it focuses on “all aspects of safety as they are interconnected”.

A Sellafield Ltd spokesman said: “We are committed to providing a safe, healthy and productive working environment for all our employees, contractors and visitors.

“This includes ensuring that all personnel are fit to carry out their jobs safely and effectively in a working environment that is free from substance misuse, including misuse of alcohol and drugs whether prescribed, over the counter or illegal.”

A spokesman for the Office for Nuclear Regulation said: “All nuclear sites are equipped with considerable defence in depth with regards to nuclear safety and security.

“People working on these sites are subject to security checks that increase in scope depending on the nature of the sensitive nuclear information, nuclear material or other radioactive material to which they might have access.

“Our team of inspectors frequent all civil nuclear sites and there is no evidence that nuclear safety or security has been compromised by drug use among staff.”