asked the Minister for Energy the steps, if any, which have been taken by the Government internationally to ensure the closure of the Sellafield reprocessing plant.
Written Answers. - Closure of Sellafield Plant.
122.
As the House is aware, the Government are taking every possible action to seek the closure of Sellafield. We see this as the only answer to lack of confidence in the safety of the plant and to the continuing discharge of radioactive waste into the Irish Sea. In April, this year I wrote to the then UK Secretary of State for Energy, Mr. Peter Walker, MP, calling for the elimination of discharges from Sellafield and its closure as soon as possible. I also expressed concern about the safety of UK reactors, especially the old Magnox reactors some of which are located at Sellafield which were not designed to meet modern safety standards and which have now surpassed their original operational life expectancy. I requested that such reactors, particularly those at Calder Hall in Sellafield and Chapel Cross be phased out. I repeated these calls at my meeting with Mr. Parkinson on 16 September last.
We have established close ties with the Isle of Man Government which share many of our concerns about the UK nuclear industry, particularly Sellafield. On 25 September last I met with the Isle of Man Chief Minister and also their Minister for the Environment. We agreed to co-operate in every way possible on these matters.
Prior to the meeting of the Paris Commission last June, I carried out an intensive international lobbying campaign for the closure of Sellafield and for support for our recommendation for its closure, which we submitted to the Paris Commission. At a Ministerial meeting of the International Energy Agency on 11 May, I sought support for our position from most of the Ministers representing countries which are party to the Paris Convention. I also had meetings with Ambassadors of the Nordic countries seeking their support. While agreement on our recommendation for the closure of Sellafield could not be reached at the Paris Commission meeting, considerable support and sympathy for our position was expressed. I intend to pursue this issue at next year's meeting of the Commission and I will continue my lobbying campaign towards this end.
However, in relation to radioactive discharges, significant progress was made at this year's meeting of the Paris Commission. A recommendation, which I tabled, concerning the application of the best available technology to minimise and to eliminate, as soon as possible, any pollution caused by radioactive discharges into the marine environment, was adopted by the Commission. On the basis of another Irish proposal it was agreed to establish a provisional system for the reporting of unplanned discharges from nuclear installations. Ireland, acting as a lead country, undertook to examine this system to see if it could be improved.
The Government believe that the problem of the safety and transboundary effects of UK reactors and the Sellafield reprocessing plant is not purely a bilateral one and that the European Community has a vital role to play in this matter. In April 1986 the Government formally requested the European Commission to establish a Community Inspection Force under Chapter III of the Euratom Treaty to report to the Commission and member states on existing or potential health or safety problems in individual nuclear installations in the Community. This request was formally repeated in May 1986 following Chernobyl. In this context I met with Mr. Clinton Davis, Commissioner for Environment Nuclear Safety and Transport on 7 May last. In July, in response to the Commission's announcement of plans to resume inspection of national monitoring facilities, I again formally raised the issue of an inspection force with Commissioner Clinton Davis saying that, while we welcomed their initiative on inspection of monitoring facilities, it did not prejudice our long standing request for a nuclear safety inspection force.
Ireland has proposed the establishment of an inspection force at Council level on numerous occasions, most recently at an informal Energy Council on 21 September last where I drew attention to the Sellafield question and again called for the establishment of an inspection force. I said that this would be necessary to independently ensure that uniformly high standards are applied at nuclear installations throughout the Community; that national regulatory authorities carry out their functions effectively and that any plants which cannot meet the highest safety standards are closed.
I was heartened by the recent statement by Commissioner Clinton Davis in favour of an inspection force and calling on member states to support its establishment. In effect the Commissioner reiterated what Ireland has been saying all along, that the Community provides the obvious legal and technical infrastructure for such a force. I now hope that firm proposals for its establishment will be brought forward without delay and I will continue to press the Commission and member states in this regard. I will be meeting the Commissioner on 5 November to discuss these matters. I met with the European Community Ambassadors to Ireland on 28 October and I sought support for an inspection force.
The proposal of British Nuclear Fuels to construct caverns under the Irish Sea for the storage of nuclear waste from Sellafield or elsewhere is completely repugnant to me. At my recent meeting with Mr. Parkinson, I stressed the total opposition of the Irish Government and people to this proposal and I called on Mr. Parkinson to prevent British Nuclear Fuels from proceeding with it. Although this is just one of the options being considered in the UK, I emphasised to Mr. Parkinson that I intended to raise the issue at every available forum including the EC, and the London Dumping Convention.
The Government are also opposed to any expansion of the UK's nuclear industry, including reprocessing of nuclear waste, which could cause a further threat to the health and safety of the Irish people. I have made this clear to the UK Government both in my letter to Mr. Walker and also at my meeting with Mr. Parkinson when I requested that any proposed new nuclear plants along Britain's west coast should not be built.
It is the Government's intention to maintain their campaign on issues of nuclear safety and to seek the closure of plants which are unsatisfactory. If we fail to achieve our objectives through bilateral and international discussions, I will review all other possible courses of action to pursue our legitimate demands.