Vol. 490 No. 2
108 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if her Department has information, or intends to seek information, on the countries that export nuclear waste to Sellafield; and if she has information on the value of these contracts. [9959/98]
110 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the representations, if any, she has made to her counterpart in the German Government in relation to the Sellafield plant; and if she will give an undertaking that she will use her position to persuade her German counterpart to cease contracts with the Sellafield plant in view of the fact that many in the German Government are aware of this plant's very poor safety record. [9960/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 108 and 110 together.
In line with Government policy, the Department of Foreign Affairs has, in the past, made formal, high level diplomatic approaches to the Governments of countries which signed, or which were contemplating signing, reprocessing agreements on spent nuclear fuel with the THORP facility at Sellafield, setting out the concerns of the Irish Government in this area. Germany was among those countries approached.
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 Limited, BNFL.
While I do not have any information in regard to such contracts between BNFL and other countries, or their value, I can reassure the House that the Government continues to make known its concerns and its opposition to the reprocessing operations carried out at the THORP facility at every opportunity in the international fora and through direct representations to the UK Government.
