Vol. 470 No. 6
6 Mr. E. Byrne asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications the formal representations, if any, made to the United Kingdom authorities regarding the recent incident at Dounreay nuclear plant; the number of such incidents notified to the Irish authorities to date in 1996; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19558/96]
I thank Deputy Byrne for tabling this question which reflects his interest in this area. On 28 September 1996, contaminated material was discharged into the sea at Dounreay, North Scotland, representing 1 per cent of the site's overall authorised discharge limits.
The source of the leak was the reprocessing plant, D1206, which was shut down via automatic safety systems. I understand that UK regulatory approval will be sought before the plant is restarted. Pending the final report of the UK regulatory authorities, the incident has been provisionally rated one on the international nuclear event scale, i.e. an anomaly beyond the authorised operating regime. I have made known my concerns about the incident to the UK authorities. In particular, their attention has been drawn to the fact that the Department was only alerted of the incident through media reports on 1 October 1996.
Apart from the Dounreay incident mentioned, my Department has been notified of four other incidents in the UK which involved an unauthorised release of radioactivity in 1996. All nuclear incidents are unacceptable to the Irish Government and I am continuously monitoring the frequency and totality of UK incidents with a view to highlighting the need for significant safety improvements. My Department is also pursuing the establishment of formal bilateral arrangements between Ireland and the UK concerning the transmission of information subsequent to incidents at nuclear installations and general matters related to nuclear safety and radiation protection.
I thank the Minister and congratulate him on his ongoing concern about British nuclear plants. Will he agree it is outrageous that it should have taken so long for the authorities to inform their neighbouring island of an incident of this dimension which occurred on 28 September? What steps is the Minister taking to impress on the British authorities, with whom we share a common ocean, that it has a responsibility to this island's inhabitants, as well as its own? Has he been given a commitment by the British authorities that it will notify his Department on the occasion of any future incidents of this nature?
Generally, the longstanding informal notification arrangements have been working satisfactorily. These were put in place by the then Minister, Deputy Spring, in 1984. My Department is notified of incidents of a radiological nature as soon as the UK authorities are informed by the nuclear operators. On receipt of the notification, this Department seeks immediately the views of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland on the radiological and health implications for Ireland. On-site incidents that compromise worker safety are reported to the nuclear installations inspectorate of the health and safety executive in Britain. The Department of Transport, Energy and Communications does not receive formal notification of such incidents. However, the arrangements in place are such that the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland is notified by the NII of these incidents who in turn pass this information on to me. The health and safety executive in the UK also publish a general statement about incidents on a quarterly basis. As mentioned in my reply my Department will have discussions during December with the UK authorities to continue negotiations on the establishment of a formal bilateral agreement on nuclear safety and radiological protection matters.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply and Deputy Byrne for tabling the question. Would the Minister favour raising an incident such as this, which relates to Dounreay, and incidents from other BNFL installations, as ongoing items at the Anglo-Irish Conference, in view of the fact that the STAD group in Dundalk has propelled the issue of nuclear safety onto a higher political plane with the Supreme Court ruling? This ought to be a matter between the two Governments at the highest possible level in view of the fact that Unionist and Nationalist politicians on this island share a similar view as to the gravity of the matter.
Will the Government make the strongest possible protest following a warning by a leading British scientist, Mr. Peter Taylor, against the dangers of underground storage tanks at Sellafield? A recent report from the British Geological Survey refers to seismic difficulties under the Irish sea and under the two islands and the existence of nuclear installations along the west coast of Britain which are particularly hazardous. In regard to the successful case by the four County Louth residents, will the Government, following two years of an each way bet, take over the running of this case and indemnify the four residents on their costs to date?
The questioning is overlong.
I accept they have been awarded costs in the court case but they incurred huge extra costs in taking this action.
The Minister of State referred to his contacts with the UK authorities and his confidence at the way in which they are reporting to him. Has he full confidence in the UK authorities in view of the fact that it has recently been revealed that the UK Atomic Energy Authority concealed information from the committee on medical aspects of radiation in the environment when investigating leaks from Dounreay?
These issues are dealt with in the replies to later questions on today's Order Paper. If Deputies would prefer oral answers to these questions they can resubmit them. The issues raised by the Deputy are not appropriate to the specific question on Dounreay
I see no difficulty in raising this issue at Anglo-Irish level. This would be desirable and I will discuss the possibility of doing so with the Government. The report on Sellafield does not deal with underground storage but with the much more dangerous overground storage of highly active liquid waste. This report is the subject matter of a later question to which a full reply has been given.
On the issue of STAD, following the judgments at Supreme and High Court level full costs have been awarded. The judgment was delivered today and it is being considered by the Attorney General who will pass his opinion to me when it is available. As a layman, I cannot envisage a defendant — the State has been named as the defendant in this case by the Dundalk four — taking over the prosecution of a case.
The Minister could formally request it.
On the question of confidence in the British nuclear authorities, I have no confidence in them.
