|
The
Committee took the decision last June to visit the site after the details of a
major leak at
Sellafield had emerged.
The committee members will tour the plant, meet with site management, and meet
with British NGOs concerned about
Sellafield's safety
record.
Deputy
Cuffe stated that, "I think that Minister Roche should have agreed to visit
the site with the Committee. I called on him a number of times to do so. There
are still many important questions that the Irish Government should be asking in
relation to Sellafield. Some of these questions relate specifically to last
spring's leak at the plant and some relate to broader issues of Sellafield's
future and its impact on human and environmental safety."
"There
has been some progress in relation to communication and the early warning
agreement between UK and Irish authorities but now is not the time to be
complacent. It still took almost six weeks for the accurate details of the leak
of 83,000 litres of radioactive material to be investigated and released."
"There
are also major concerns on issues such as renewed reprocessing contracts, the
pace and funding of clean up operations and the volume of liquid radioactive
waste stored at Sellafield."
"The
schedule for completing reprocessing activities at Sellafield is 2010 for oxide
fuels and 2012 for Magnox fuels, but the option of further reprocessing
contracts has not been ruled out. Only the British Government can make this
decision so political pressure from the Irish Government is imperative."
The
management of legacy wastes is replacing reprocessing as the main activity of
the site. The UK Government has indicated that it will have to review its
discharge strategy to take into account the management of legacy wastes.
Commenting on this fact Deputy Cuffe said that, "The Irish Government must
ensure that discharges into the Irish Sea are minimised".
The
NDA has had its financial basis linked to Sellafield's commercial success. The
decision to make the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) – the new body
responsible with dealing with Britain's nuclear legacy - dependent on
Sellafield's commercial fortune represents a u-turn from the policy set out in
the British Government's 2002 White Paper; Managing the Nuclear Legacy.
Deputy
Cuffe continued, "It is totally unacceptable that NDA's ability to meet the
highest environmental and human safety standards could be compromised by
commercial failure at one of the reprocessing plants".
"Long
standing problems with the site's vitrification plant – which turns
dangerous liquid waste into glass blocks for dry storage - has meant that a
backlog of radioactive waste is being stored in liquid form. Currently 90% of
the site's radioactive waste remains in a liquid form. All the experts agree
that storing radioactive waste in liquid form is the least safe option. The
proportion of waste still in liquid form at Sellafield is completely
unacceptable and the Irish Government needs to press that issue very strongly
with the British authorities."
Note
Members
of the All-Party Oireachtais Committee on the Environment and Local Government
will arrive in Cumbria on Monday (19th) evening and meet with local
NGOs at seven o' clock. On Tuesday (20th) they will tour the site
and speak with site management from eight o' clock till four. From four to
five they will meet Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and British Environment
Agency. The committee members will depart Cumbria at five o' clock on Tuesday.
|
