20 tonnes = 20.000 kilograms

So. 20 tonnes of highly radioactive waste leaks out of Sellafield's nuclear waste reprocessing plant.

That is a major nuclear spill, in one of the biggest, most important nuclear power plants in the United Kingdom.

First thought: One would think that the BBC had it on its front page before their counterpart in Norway does. It does not. One would hope any nuclear accidents in one's own country would be widely covered, even in an election year.

Second thought: well, I hate to say we told you so, but we did tell you so.

I'm glad it wasn't dangerous. For a few seconds over my morning tea, I was all the way back to Chernobyl, where we were all going to mutate, get cancer and die, along with all the reindeer, and all the cows. Vague unease and boxes of potassium iodide in the medicine cabinet and the sky looking strange all spring. Not something I care to experience again.