Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jun 1998

Vol. 493 No. 3

Written Answers. - THORP Plant.

Mildred Fox

Question:

168 Ms M. Fox asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if she has requested the British Government and British Nuclear Fuels to suspend the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel at THORP, Sellafield, in view of the fact that a United States of America institute in a major study has suggested that an accident there could be ten to 100 times worse than the accident at Chernobyl; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15966/98]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke)

The Government is strongly opposed to the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel at the THORP plant at the Sellafield complex. Most recently, as part of the UK public consultation on proposed commissioning of the Sellafield MOX plant, my Department, in its submission to the UK Environment Agency in March 1998, called for an immediate cessation of THORP's reprocessing activities.

The report referred to in the question by the Deputy is entitled "High Level Radioactive Liquid Waste at Sellafield: Risks, Alternative Options and Lessons" and was published in June 1998 by Dr. Gordon Thompson of the US based Institute for Resource and Security Studies. Dr. Thompson's study was the subject of a presentation by him in Dáil Éireann last Wednesday, after which copies of the report were distributed and it is now being examined by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland.

Notwithstanding Dr. Thompson's study, I should point out that my concerns about the storage of High Level Waste (HLW) at Sellafield have been conveyed to the UK authorities on a number of occasions. Indeed, in recent correspondence with the UK Minister for Energy, Mr. John Battle, I called for the vitrification programme to be accelerated in order to facilitate a much earlier target date than 2015 for the clearance of the backlog of the waste. I also requested copies of documentation on Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) which up to now BNFL has refused to release publicly on grounds of commercial confidentiality. Departmental officials also reinforced my strong views on Sellafield's vitrification activites at a meeting with their UK counterparts earlier this month.

Minister Battle has argued that the UK's independent nuclear regulator considers the HLW storage arrangements at Sellafield to be safe. However, I find it difficult to be convinced of this position without the release of detailed technical information including the contents of the PRAs. To this end, the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland has written to BNFL requesting that it reconsiders its refusal to make this information available. I am also writing to Minister Battle to indicate my strong support for the RPII's request.

I assure the Deputy that I will continue to highlight the Government's concerns about all operations carried out at Sellafield.