A statement released on Friday from Sellafield said levels of radiation at the Cumbria plant were above natural levels. Sellafield Ltd is the company that runs the nuclear plant near Seascale, asked all non-essential workers to return home. In its
statement the company said:
The decision to suspend day operations has [been] taken with the safety and security of the workforce as a priority
Sellafield is Britain's biggest and most hazardous nuclear site, and a store site for tonnes of highly radioactive waste as well as the entire civil plutonium stockpile, reports
al Jazeera. However, the Telegraph has reported the higher than normal levels of radioactivity were due to "naturally occurring background radon" and the plant had now been
given the all clear.
A spokesperson from the Department of Energy and Climate Change confirmed the elevated levels of radioactivity had been recorded but said they were
"well below levels of concern".
