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. The NEB had advised me that the four nuclear reactors at Calder Hall, which are located within the Sellafield complex, are on average 30 years old; that they do not have secondary containment systems and that the reactors fall appreciably short of modern safety standards. Consequently, I expressed concern about the safety of UK reactors, especially the old Magnox reactors 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 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 shares 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. Gwynedd County Council in Wales have similar concerns. A delegation from the county council were met by officials of my Department on 9 November last. It was agreed that contacts would be established on matters of mutual concern.
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 had submitted to the Paris Convention. 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 again 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 proposal of British Nuclear Fuels to construct caverns under the Irish Sea for the storage of nuclear waste is completely repugnant to the Government. 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 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 continue their campaign on issues of nuclear safety, to seek the closure of plants which are considered to pose a danger to the health and safety of people in this country and the discontinuance of the idea of constructing caverns for the storage of nuclear waste under the Irish sea. 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.