Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 24 Apr 1996

Vol. 464 No. 4

Written Answers. - Transportation of Hazardous Material.

Eric J. Byrne

Question:

29 Mr. E. Byrne asked the Minister for the Marine the progress, if any, that has been made with regard to further controlling the transport of radioactive and hazardous material through the Irish Sea; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8221/96]

Minister for the Marine (Mr. Barrett)

The Deputy will be aware of the Government's concern about the shipments of nuclear fuel and plutonium through the Irish Sea. 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 liability regime for compensation and salvage. At the International Maritime Organisation's assembly in London last November, my colleague at the Department, the Minister of State Deputy 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 and the Marine Environment Protection Committee 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. I am confident that procedures to strengthen the code will have been considered and prepared in time for the next IMO assembly.

In view of the concerns expressed by Ireland and supported by other IMO countries a special consultative meeting to discuss the code, in advance of consideration of it by the MSC and the MEPC, was called by the secretary general of the IMO last month. Ireland was represented at this meeting by the deputy chief surveyor of the Department of the Marine and the assistant chief executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. Ireland made a detailed presentation at the meeting calling on the code to be strengthened. There was considerable support for Ireland's position. The MSC and the MEPC will take on board the views expressed at this meeting when preparing their recommendations for the strengthening of the code. 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 the EU Commission to expand the definition of "Dangerous Goods" to include substances coming under the INF code. The EU Commission indicated that it is positively disposed towards finding a suitable mechanism to take account of Ireland's concerns. We intend to progress this matter further at the forthcoming HAZMAT committee meeting in the coming weeks.

I can assure the House that I will continue to pursue every avenue to ensure that a tough new code governing the shipment of nuclear materials is put in place.