Vol. 566 No. 4
168 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the action he intends to take over the coming months to address the discharge of technetium-99 into the Irish Sea; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that these discharges may continue for at least three more years. [13034/03]
The discharge of technetium-99 arises from the treatment of liquid waste at the Magnox reprocessing plant at Sella field. These discharges typically take place on a batch basis two or three times a year.
Ireland's concerns about radioactive discharges to the Irish Sea, including discharges of technetium-99, have been conveyed on numerous occasions to the UK Government. These concerns, particularly those in regard to technetium-99 discharges, are shared by a number of Nordic countries, notably Norway. In the statement issued by the OSPAR Ministers in 1998 when the OSPAR Strategy on Radioactive Substances was adopted, the UK indicated that the concerns expressed by a number of the OSPAR states about Technetium-99 discharges from Sellafield would be addressed in the then forthcoming decisions concerning discharge authorisations.
In September 2001, the UK Environment Agency submitted to the relevant UK Ministers, for consideration, its proposed decision in regard to a review of the discharge authorisation limit for technetium-99. In this connection, the agency proposed a retention of the existing discharge authorisation limit of 90 terrabequerels per annum and that this would be reduced to ten terrabequerels per annum by around 2006. The Government's concerns about the agency's proposals were conveyed to the UK.
On 11 December 2002 the UK announced its decision to reduce the discharges of technetium-99 from Sellafield. The Environment Agency proposals to reduce the discharge authorisation to 10 terrabequerels per annum from 2006 were accepted. In addition, the UK proposed a moratorium on the discharge of currently stored technetium pending research into solutions for safely storing technetium on land and invited responses to this proposal.
I welcomed the proposed moratorium but reiterated the Government's position that the retention of an authorisation limit of 90 terrabequerels to 2006 was at variance with the commitments given by the UK in 1998 when adopting the OSAPR Strategy on Radioactive Substances. In addition, I expressed concern that a failure to implement a land-based storage solution would place unacceptable pressure on the existing vitrification processes at Sellafield. I also repeated the Government's call for an acceleration of the vitrification process so that the contents of the HAST tanks can be reduced to buffer volumes on schedule by 2015.
While the UK Government has stressed that it is committed to implementing the OSPAR strategy, I have concerns that the UK Strategy on Radioactive Discharges, published in July 2002, shows a projected increase in discharges in the short-term. Ireland remains actively involved in the OSPAR process to ensure that the OSPAR Strategy is fully implemented, in a manner consistent with the aims of the 1998 Sintra Declaration, by all contracting parties.
