Last updated at 14:07, Tuesday, 19 June 2012

MILLIONS of pounds is to be spent giving Sellafield an extra 11 miles of security fence to stop terrorists penetrating the site.

It will be erected just feet inside the existing perimeter fence which was erected at a cost of around £5m after an invasion of Greenpeace protesters during the 1990s.

The government, through the Department of Energy and Climate Change, has ordered the second fence in the face of a rising threat to sensitive installations worldwide from Al Qaeda. The move comes at a time when Sellafield Ltd are reducing numbers on the site with up to 2,000 staff being moved off site to work in other locations.

It is thought the double fencing is part of overall security improvements costing around quarter of a billion pounds.

Erection of the fence is already under way.

Sellafield has round-the-clock protection from Civil Nuclear Authority police who are licensed to carry firearms to protect life and safeguard nuclear materials from attack.

More officers have been recruited, an extra security guard force has recently been added and Cumbria Constabulary will now have a permanent presence on the site.

A Sellafield Ltd spokesman said: “We keep our security arrangements under continuous review to ensure they are effective now and in the future.

“We are currently making some changes which include physical as well as operational enhancements.

“As part of these, we are installing an additional fence, essentially creating a double fence around the site’s perimeter.

“These changes are designed to enhance our existing arrangements and in no way suggests that the security level has changed.”

Planning permission will have to be sought for five areas of the fence and plans have now been submitted to Copeland Borough Council’s planning committee.

First published at 13:24, Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk