Written Answers. - Nuclear Safety.
Seán Crowe
Question:
388
Mr. Crowe
asked the
Minister for the Environment and Local Government
the dates on which the Government raised the issue of Sellafield with the British authorities since the formation of this Government, in view of the widespread concern here and abroad regarding the Sellafield nuclear power plant; the response received; and the steps he proposes to take to further prioritise the closure of the Sellafield plant.
[13825/03]
I refer to the reply to Question No. 122 of 14 April 2003.
The Government has taken, and will continue to take, a pro-active role in campaigning against reprocessing operations at Sellafield. An Agreed Programme for Government has stated that we regard the continued existence of Sellafield as an unacceptable threat to Ireland; that it should be closed, and that we will use every diplomatic and legal route available to us to work towards the removal of this threat.
The Government has taken an important initiative in pursuit of this policy objective through its separate legal actions, under the OSPAR Convention and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, regarding the Sellafield MOX plant. These actions are proceeding on schedule and are challenging operations at the Sellafield MOX plant on economic, legal, environmental and safety grounds.
Under the OSPAR Convention, we are seeking access to certain information necessary to carry out an independent evaluation of the economic case for the plant in order to ensure that it was justified as required under EU law. The UK response has been to refuse access to the information concerned on grounds of commercial sensitivity. Oral hearings of these proceedings took place in the permanent court of arbitration in The Hague in October 2002, and a judgment or award is expected shortly.
The UNCLOS action is based on claims by Ireland that the UK is in breach of its obligations under UNCLOS regarding the threat to the marine environment from the continued operation and expansion of Sellafield, the threat to the Irish Sea from shipments of nuclear materials and the inadequacy of the 1993 environmental impact statement for the MOX Plant. The UK has rejected these claims. Oral hearings of proceedings will begin on 10 June 2003 and are expected to last three weeks.
On 16 January 2003, I represented Ireland at the third ministerial meeting of the British Irish Council (Environment Group). This meeting was chaired by Michael Meacher, the British Minister for the Environment, and included environment ministers from the devolved administrations. Part of the group's agenda is the issue of radioactive waste from Sellafield, and a paper tabled jointly by Ireland and the Isle of Man will be considered on conclusion of Ireland's legal actions. Other issues for discussion at the next meeting of this group include highly active waste and long-term storage of plutonium at Sellafield.
On 7 November 2002, I debated the motion "That this house would shut down Sellafield" at the Law Society in NUI Dublin. The British Minister for Energy, Brian Wilson, was present at the debate. I will meet Mr. Wilson again when he visits Dublin later this month and will take this opportunity to raise my concerns about Sellafield.
I wrote to Michael Meacher on 7 January 2003 outlining my concerns regarding the proposed decision by the environment agency in the UK on future discharges of technetium 99 (Tc-99) from Sellafield. I also wrote to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt, on 28 March 2003 expressing my concerns about the adequacy of security at Sellafield and received a response on 16 April 2003. I published this response in reply to Question No. 141 of 14 May 2003.
My officials and the scientific staff of the RPII also continue to have regular contact with their UK counterparts through correspondence and meetings.
All contacts between me and UK ministers, and at official level, are welcome, cordial and productive. However, while I believe there has been an increasing recognition among the UK auth orities of the serious concerns of the Irish population, there remains a significant divergence in our respective views in relation to Sellafield. The legal and other options open to the Government in relation to Sellafield remain under continuous review.
