Vol. 464 No. 8
40 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment the number of times the Government sub-committee on the nuclear industry has met; the action, if any, that has been taken in respect of any of its recommendations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8948/96]
I refer to the reply to Question No. 80 of 7 March 1996 which sets out the position about meetings of the ministerial group on Sellafield.
The main matters addressed by the ministerial group continue to be actively pursued by the appropriate individual Ministers and their Departments. These include safety aspects of the British nuclear industry generally and of Sellafield and Magnox reactors in particular; opposition to the THORP reprocessing plant and the proposed development of a rock characterisation facility at Sellafield; consideration of the possibility of using the provisions of the Paris Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Land-Based Sources for the purpose of arbitration in relation to Sellafield and THORP operations; promotion at international level of the Government's concerns about the risk to the environment from nuclear installations; feasibility of amending the EURATOM Treaty, which the Government is pursuing within the Intergovernmental Conference process, to place greater emphasis on health, safety and environmental aspects; and an initiative within the International Maritime Organisation seeking to strengthen the present code of practice governing the carriage by sea of irradicated nuclear fuels.
The ministerial group will continue its strategic role in progressing these matters.
