Vol. 500 No. 6
23 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the discussions, if any, she will have with her British Government counterpart in relation to the decision by the British Environment Agency to authorise continuing technetium discharges from Sellafield and the construction of a MOX plant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4581/99]
I refer the Deputy to my reply to Questions Nos. 33, 43, and 87 on 10 November 1998 and Question No. 121 on 10 February last.
I arranged a meeting for later this month with the UK Minister for the Environment, Mr. Michael Meacher, MP to discuss the draft MOX authorisation and radioactive discharge authorisations submitted to UK Ministers by the environment agency. I will use this meeting with Minister Meacher to re-inforce the Government's concerns about the agency's proposed decisions. I will be asking Minister Meacher to rescind the agency's decision in regard to the MOX plant, and to substantially reduce the discharge authorisation limits, particularly as regards technetium-99, in keeping with the commitments given by the UK Ministers at the OSPAR meeting in Portugal last July.
