Written Answers. - International Maritime Resolution.
Eric J. Byrne
Question:
41
Mr. E. Byrne
asked the
Minister for the Marine
the progress, if any, that has been made by the Committees of the International Maritime organisation in considering the resolution put forward by Ireland regarding the INF code; his views on whether procedures to strengthen the code will have been considered and prepared in time for the next IMO assembly; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[2142/96]
The Deputy will be aware of the Government's concerns about the shipment of spent nuclear fuel and plutonium through the Irish Sea. The implications of an accident or collision need no spelling out by me to this House.
At present such shipments are governed by the requirements of the International Maritime Organisation Code on the Safe Carriage of Irradiated Nuclear Fuels known as the INF Code. I, consider the INF Code to be deficient in a number of very important respects and I wish to inform the Deputy and the House of the steps which I am undertaking to have them changed.
Nuclear materials—the most lethal of all cargoes—are, at present, effectively exempt from the normal rules governing dangerous cargoes. Many of the basic requirements for dangerous cargoes are noticeably absent from the INF Code. There is no requirement to plan the route or to notify coastal states; no requirement to carry out hazard evaluations of the materials being transported and of the flasks in which they are contained; there are inadequate arrangements in the event of accident for emergency response, for recovery of materials lost or sunk or for a liability regime for compensation and salvage.
At the International Maritime Organisations' (IMO) Assembly in London last November, my colleague at the Department, Minister of State Gilmore, secured agreement from representatives of the 152 countries in the IMO to adopt Ireland's Resolution governing the shipment of nuclear materials and to strengthen the INF Code. Ireland's Resolution seeks to address the deficiencies in the INF Code. The Resolution instructs the IMO's Marine Safety Committee (MSC) and the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) to consider extending the INF Code to include the following:
— route planning
— notification to the coastal state
— marking of flasks
— protection and salvage plans in the event of emergencies
— the designation of sensitive areas in which nuclear shipments must take place.
The deputy chief surveyor of the Department's Marine Survey Office represents Ireland on both the MSC and the MEPC. These Committees have been instructed to thoroughly examine Ireland's proposal and to report to the next Assembly of the IMO next year with recommendations as to how the INF Code should be strengthened. Work has commenced on this issue and I am confident that procedures to strengthen the code will have been considered and prepared in time for the next IMO Assembly.
Ireland will also be preparing a detailed presentation of the IMO which will strengthen its case for implementation of new standards governing the shipment of nuclear materials. Ireland's case will be presented at a special meeting of the IMO in March. The meeting was called by the Secretary General of the IMO, following concerns expressed by Ireland and supported by other IMO countries about deficiencies in the current rules governing the carriage of nuclear materials (INF Code). Ireland will be represented at this meeting by the Deputy Chief Surveyor, Marine Surveyor and the Radiological Institute of Ireland.
On 13 September 1995 an EU Directive concerning reporting arrangements for vessels bound for or leaving Community ports and carrying dangerous or polluting goods (HAZMAT) came into force. Ireland has requested that the definition of "dangerous goods" be expanded to include substances coming under the INF code. The EU Commission has agreed to put Ireland's proposal on the agenda of the next committee meeting and to submit a proposal for amending the Directive to incorporate the Code to Parliament and Council.
As the Deputy is aware it is Government policy not to admit entry to an Irish port of any vessel carrying nuclear materials and in line with that policy the Harbours Bill, 1995, makes provision for harbour-masters to prohibit the entry into harbours of the following:
(i) a nuclear powered ship, vehicle or other conveyance;
(ii) a ship, vehicle or other conveyance that is carrying one or more nuclear weapons;
(iii) a ship, vehicle or other conveyance that is carrying nuclear material (within the meaning of the Radiological Protection Act, 1991).
I assure the House I will continue to pursue every avenue to ensure that a tough new code governing the shipment of nuclear materials is put in place.
