Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 October 2011
100 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the recent report by the United Kingdom’s Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations on the nuclear facilities and storage of radioactive material at Sellafield. [30272/11]
View answerFollowing the serious nuclear accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in March 2011, the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change requested the UK's Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, to examine the circumstances of the Fukushima accident to see what lessons could be learned to enhance the safety of the UK nuclear industry. The Inspector's final report was published on 11 October 2011.
The report considers implications for all of the UK's nuclear facilities, including those at Sellafield.
Conclusions drawn by the report which are of interest from an Irish perspective include the following:
In considering the direct causes of the Fukushima accident the report sees no reason for curtailing the operation of nuclear power plants or other nuclear facilities in the UK;
The report finds that there is no need to change the present siting strategies for the new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK;
The report concludes that the UK Government, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the Sellafield Licensee must continue to pursue the Legacy Ponds and Silos remediation and retrievals programme at Sellafield with utmost vigour and determination.
This is a detailed technical report whose content is being further examined by my Department, together with the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) in line with its statutory function in respect of monitoring developments abroad relating to nuclear installations and radiological safety generally, and keeping the Government informed of their implications for Ireland.
