I thank Senator Neville for raising this important matter. Given the time available, I regret that I will not be in a position to reply as comprehensively as I wish. However, I will try to cover most of the points he raised.
The incident to which the Senator referred occurred in the vitrification plant at the Sellafield complex on 2 February. Under the relevant UK nuclear incident procedures, the operators, British Nuclear Fuels, notified the relevant regulatory authorities. In accordance with existing bilateral reporting arrangements, my Department was notified of the incident that afternoon by the UK Department of the Environment. The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland was immediately contacted to assess the radiological and health implications of the incident for Ireland, if any.
Based on the information received, the RPII advised me that the incident had no radiological or health implications for Ireland. There was no release of radioactivity to the environment. However, some radioactive liquid was found within pipework in the vitrification plant. I take the Senator's point about the quality of information available to the Government through the current system. The British authorities have been asked to review it and examine how the information flow to the Irish Government could be improved.
This plant is not a nuclear reactor or a reprocessing facility. It converts high level liquid radioactive waste into a dry form which is then vitrified in glass. This in turn is stored in stainless steel containers in a purpose built above ground storage system. As a precautionary measure the staff involved in the incident were moved to another part of the plant until the situation had been checked and declared stable. I have been informed that all detection and safety procedures worked satisfactorily. Under the International Atomic Energy Agency's eight point international nuclear event scale, the incident has been classified as level one, that is, "an anomaly". I stress that this is an initial rating and when the incident has been fully investigated by the regulatory authorities it may possibly be assigned a lower or zero rating. I have asked the British authorities for a report of its investigations into the cause of this latest incident.
While this particular incident had no environmental implications for Ireland, the Government is committed to pursuing realistic and effective courses of action to convey to the British authorities the concerns of the Irish people about the British nuclear industry. Developments affecting nuclear safety have been a matter of major concern to me personally and it has been one of my priorities for attention since taking office. This latest incident is yet another addition to the growing list of incidents in British nuclear power stations and highlights once more the ongoing and unacceptable nuclear risk that Ireland faces from Britain's nuclear industry.
To date in 1996, my Department has been notified by the British authorities of three incidents — at Heysham in Lancashire, Wylfa in Anglesea and this latest one at Sellafield in Cumbria, all located on the west coast of Britain. The proximity of these installations to the east coast of Ireland and to centres of population here only serves to increase the anxiety felt by the Irish public about each successive incident.
Three days after this latest incident, I met with the British Ambassador, Veronica Sutherland, in my office and I expressed my grave concern about this and other recent incidents and about other aspects of the British nuclear industry, including in particular the ongoing pollution of the Irish Sea, which is unacceptable; the NIREX proposals for an underground nuclear dump near the Sellafield complex; the continued existence of Magnox reactors, which are past their sell by date and ought to be decommissioned; and my concerns about the safety implications of privatising the British nuclear industry.
I stressed that the Government was firmly opposed to any expansion of the nuclear industry in Britain. In that context, I repeated my welcome for the recent decision not to proceed with the commissioning of two new nuclear reactors. I sincerely hope that decision signifies the beginning of the end of the nuclear industry in Britain.
I am realistic enough to know that the nuclear industry will not close down overnight. It plays a significant role in Britain in terms of power generation and employment. However, the time is now ripe for the British authorities to turn their attention to developing an energy strategy for the future that excludes nuclear power. In the meantime, this Government remains committed to using every available opportunity in all appropriate fora to voice its concerns about the safety aspects of the nuclear industry, to press for the highest possible safety standards to be maintained and to strive to prevent and eliminate radioactive discharges into the marine environment.
This Government is continuously monitoring, examining and reassessing all available options open to it to ensure the safety of the Irish public. In line with this, officials from my Department and other relevant Departments and agencies will participate in an international nuclear emergency exercise, INEX 2, which is designed to test our degree of preparedness in the event of any nuclear emergency. This exercise is due to take place later this year and my Department will be greatly assisted in its role by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland.
The Seanad may also be aware of my recent attendance at a planning inquiry in Cumbria into an application by UK Nirex Limited to site a rock characterisation facility or rock laboratory near Sellafield. I took the unprecedented step of personally attending this inquiry in order to emphasise publicly to the British authorities the extent and depth of my concern, and that of the Government and all the Irish people, about the NIREX proposal. I told the inquiry that I objected to the facility because I saw it as a first step, and indeed a significant precommitment, to an eventual underground nuclear waste facility virtually on the edge of the Irish Sea. Copies of my full submission to that inquiry are available in the Seanad Library. I have also written directly to the EU Commissioner with responsibility for the Environment, the UK Secretary of State for the Environment and the UK Minister for Energy about the waste facility.
The task force of Ministers which was set up last year has developed a co-ordinated strategy to progress the Government's policy in relation to Sellafield as set out in the Government's policy agreement. A blueprint for action was drawn up to implement the various proposals on Sellafield and the Irish Sea and action on each commitment is proceeding.
One of the commitments is to reassess legal opinion on the possibility of taking a court case over Sellafield. The committee of Ministers on Sellafield has asked the Attorney General to reassess the possibilities for legal action against Sellafield. Scientific evidence is, of course, a vital element in this matter. There are ongoing inquiries in this regard and the position is kept under constant review. At the recent public inquiry in Cumbria concerning my objections to the NIREX rock laboratory, I set out a number of legal submissions which provide options which we might pursue in other fora if the NIREX appeal is successful.
Recently in the Supreme Court, counsel for the State supported the four Dundalk residents in their action against an appeal by BNFL over the decision of the High Court last year which established the jurisdiction of the Irish courts to hear the substantive case against BNFL. Although the Government and the Attorney General are named as codefendants in the substantive case, our support of them in the appeal process clearly illustrates the Government's commitment to do all in its power to eliminate the threat posed by Sellafield and THORP. My Department is also making available to the Dundalk plaintiffs, on a voluntary basis, its files and documentation concerning Sellafield and other related aspects relevant to the Dundalk plaintiffs' substantive case.
At the request of the ministerial committee on Sellafield, and using expert material supplied by my Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs made formal high level diplomatic approaches last year to the countries which signed, or which were contemplating signing, reprocessing agreements with the THORP facility, outlining the concern of the Irish Government in this area. The countries in question were Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The Irish position was generally sympathetically received by the authorities concerned and the concerns were then conveyed to the nuclear electricity companies. However, it was pointed out by the Governments concerned that they could not intervene directly in contractual agreements entered into with British Nuclear Fuels. The Government will continue to make known its concern and its opposition to the operations at THORP through all diplomatic channels.
These actions and positive steps that I have outlined here this evening are clear evidence of my commitment to action, and not just words, against Sellafield and the British nuclear industry.
