31 January 2014 (01:55 UTC-07 Tango)/29 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1435/11 Bahman 1392/01 Yi-Chou (1st month) 4712 (Happy New Year!)

“In response to an operational condition on the Sellafield site a conservative and prudent decision has been taken, to operate the site at reduced manning levels, commensurate with safe operations.”-official statement

Reports that a possible nuclear event is unfolding at the United Kingdom’s Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site.  All non-essential workers are being told to stay home due to rapidly rising radiation levels at the site!

Sellafield is located in in Cumbria, England.  It is being used to decommission nearby nuclear reactors.  It is the largest nuke site in all of Europe, covering six square kilometers (2.3 square miles) and employing more than 10-thousand people.

Just a couple of days ago it was revealed that roe deer within the site’s boundaries will be killed off.  Officially the reason is that there is skyrocketing wild deer population in England, and they are running out of wild spaces to live.  Maybe the real reason is that they’ve become radioactive?

Also, a week ago it was revealed that John Clarke, head of the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, criticized the way a contractor was running the Sellafield site.  The site is run by Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), and Clarke said NMP’s “…current performance levels….are not acceptable.”

Public Accounts Committee member, Margaret Hodge, also criticized NMP saying “…more evidence …emerges of incompetence at Sellafield….”

On 18 January 2014, the Guardian/Observer stated: “The government stands accused of drafting the consultation process to select the site of a multibillion-pound nuclear waste storage facility to favour a location that some geologists claim is unsuitable for burying radioactive material.

Two leading geologists told the Observer that they believed the government was keen to push through Sellafield as the site of the facility, a subterranean tunnel network that would be the size of Carlisle, despite an official inquiry demonstrating that its geology is highly fractured and unsuitable for the safe storage of radioactive waste.”

On 17 January 2014, NMP/Sellafield Limited lost its appeal against a massive $1-million USD fine.  Back in February 2013 NMP/Sellafield was fined for dumping nuclear waste in a local garbage dump!