A TOWN council has come together to voice its outrage at an "alarmist" documentary which cast serious doubts over the safety procedures at a nuclear site.

The special investigation by BBC's Panorama claimed to highlight failings within Sellafield and took months to complete.

But Copeland Borough Councillor Felicity Wilson spoke out about the issue after it was raised in Wednesday night's meeting.

She said: "Everyone I spoke to has been of the opinion that it was not a well produced piece or a rational representation of what is happening at Sellafield in terms of waste management.

"The TV show was alarmist in the way it was produced.

"A lot of the information they used was already in the public domain and had been for some time.

"The industry is very open and you can go there and talk to people about things and the programme didn't do anything for the good of the company."

Entitled Sellafield's Nuclear Safety Failings, film makers were said to have investigated the "shocking state of Britain's most hazardous nuclear site" using leaked documents and whistleblowers to access their information.

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In the show which aired on September 5, BBC reporter Richard Bilton described the plant as ageing and run-down, a representation residents have fiercely opposed.

Cllr Wilson said: "Sellafield has been there for people's lifetime and parents and grandparents have worked there.

"A lot of people in the area still work there, and so I did I and I would not have done so if I thought at any time that safety wasn't paramount.

"People locally are quite sensible about these things and quite knowledgeable and they have been incensed."

The 69-year-old said waste had been managed very safely over the past 50 years and praised staff for their continued efforts and endeavours in finding the best solutions to managing waste.

She added: "The place is very close to our hearts and we know an awful lot of thought is going into it and making sure it is safe and risk averse."

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