Investigators are continuing to examine the cause of a leak of highly
radioactive material at part of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing
plant.
The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) stopped production in
April when the leak was discovered.
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate is compiling a report before a
decision on any prosecutions is taken.
Investigations are focusing in part on how long the leak had lay
undetected and reliability of monitoring systems.
A clean-up operation is continuing and similar pipework elsewhere in
the plant has been checked.
Sellafield's managing director, Barry Snelson, admitted to the BBC
that the plant may remain closed for months.
Waste warning
Safety regulators have claimed that the discharge could result in
criminal charges.
The accident happened when a narrow pipe fractured, spewing nitric
acid onto the floor of a concrete-lined cell in the Thorp
reprocessing complex.
The acid contained 20 tonnes of uranium and 160kg of plutonium.
It is thought the pipe may have fractured in August, but the leak was
not discovered until eight months later due to a combination of a
faulty gauge and human error.
No staff were contaminated.
Last week, Sellafield was told to improve the way it discharged low
level radioactive waste water into the Irish Sea.
Environment Agency inspectors issued an enforcement notice after
finding its filtering system needed to be improved.
Operators British Nuclear Group said no discharge limits had been
breached and it was "committed" to improvements.
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