Vol. 409 No. 3
2 Tomás Mac Giolla asked the Minister for Energy if he has sought any facilities for monitoring the level of radioactivity in water discharges from Sellafield and in particular for monitoring the greatly increased discharges which will arise when THORP is commissioned: if not, if he will outline the information which is made available for making a scientific assessment of the effects of these discharges; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The actual discharges from Sellafield cannot be measured directly by our authorities but the concentration of radioactivity from Sellafield in our coastal waters and in the Irish Sea is measured by the Nuclear Energy Board in conjunction with the Department of the Marine. This is an indirect method of measuring Sellafield discharges and the facilities for making these measurements exist already.
The same facilities will be used to measure any increase in concentration which may arise when THORP is fully commissioned and operational. The operators of this plant are of the opinion that there will not be a significant increase in discharges when THORP is operational, because additional treatment equipment has been commissioned.
The scientific assessment of the effects of Sellafield discharges is carried out by the NEB, principally on the basis that by estimating the dose arising to fish eaters and comparing this to international limits and doses from natural background, they can arrive at a conclusion.
The latest information on this may be found in the NEB annual report for 1989 and the NEB report entitled "Radioactivity Monitoring of the Irish Marine Environment — 1987". A report on radioactivity monitoring of the marine environment covering the years 1988 to 1990 will be published shortly, and it will show a continuing decrease in radioactivity levels in the Irish Sea, consistent with the reduction in discharges from Sellafield over recent years.
The Minister says there is no direct method of monitoring. That was precisely the purport of the question. Has the Minister ever sought any direct monitoring facilities in view of the long campaign the Government and the Minister himself have waged in regard to Sellafield on the extent of the discharges into the Irish Sea and the dangers for Irish people? Could the Minister ask for monitoring facilities, particularly as the discharges of water following the development of the new THORP facility there will be more than doubled? They may say that the level of discharges will not increase appreciably but the facts are that the level of water discharges will increase enormously following THORP. I wonder if the Minister should now ask for special monitoring facilities to see that they are telling the truth.
The Deputy is aware of the continuing refusal of the UK Government to agree to a Europe-wide inspectorate to give access to the nuclear stations in Great Britain. I have no reason to believe that a request for an Irish presence at the discharge point from Sellafield would receive any more positive response than the negative ones I have received to the requests for a Europe-wide inspectorate. We are dealing with another sovereign State and if that is the position they wish to take up, it is their right to do so. We as a Government have been seeking to obtain Community agreement to more adequate, more satisfactory and more transparent controls that would be open to inspection. All that is promised at present is the right for the European Community to have access to inspect that the controls and the measuring equipment are in place but not to go any further than that. This is some small way towards the position we are trying to establish but it is not at all satisfactory yet.
I accept what the Minister has said, that the level of radioactive discharges from Sellafield has reduced in recent years. From a point where they said there was no danger whatever five or six years ago they have now reduced them enormously, which indicates that there was great danger then. I am particularly interested in the development of THORP in which now there will be passage of ships bringing highly intensive radiation material from Japan up to Sellafield along the Irish Sea and it will be much more difficult to reduce the level of radiation from the water before discharge. That is why I am worried as to whether either the EC or the Government here can have some facility to see that what they tell us is true — that there will be no increase in the level of radiation discharges. Every indication is that from the type of material that will be going into THORP discharges must be much more radioactive unless huge equipment is installed to reduce the levels——
Let me appeal for brevity, for obvious reasons. There are two more questions to be dealt with.
There is a number of aspects to the questions being posed here. I repeat that, according to the Nuclear Energy Board's advice to me which was obtained from their consultations with the authorities at Sellafield, the operators of THORP expect no increase in discharges from the plant in its operation as they have commissioned additional treatment equipment. Furthermore, we are informed reductions in discharges from existing installations at Sellafield are planned. As I said, EC requirements will now come into operation. This is the change announced some time back that will affect the THORP situation in that the discharges there will be subject to scrutiny by the Community under Article 37 of the EURATOM Treaty. British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. cannot make their final arrangements for discharges until they have received the Commission's opinion under Article 37 after consultation with a committee of experts drawn from member states. That is distinct from the original question if the Irish Government would be present or have their own people present to monitor the discharges. We are achieving some progress at European level.
On the question of transportation, we have had that issue up here on a number of occasions. I have explained the position and I can only express again my personal concern as well as the Deputy's at the possibility of some kind of accident happening while this radioactive waste is being transported up the Irish Sea. That is a matter of serious concern.
