Findings in the report by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate were a "serious indictment of management culture" at the Sellafield plant, the Fine Gael spokesman on energy, Mr Austin Currie, said yesterday.

"The recommendations for improvement represent only a tinkering with a problem where more fundamental decisions are required," he said.

Referring to calls for the closure of the plant, he said it would be "naive to think that the British government would take a decision which would result in the loss of 20,000 jobs in an area totally dependent on the plant."

Green Party MEP for Dublin Ms Patricia McKenna, meanwhile, has called for the closure of the plant.

Urging the Government to put pressure on British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, through the British government, to clear the backlog of radioactive liquid waste, she said they should also move to "shut this time bomb down as soon as possible".

"A serious accident affecting the ageing tanks holding this waste could disperse between 10 and 100 times the amount of radioactivity released at Chernobyl." She also said the management at the plant "must be held accountable for their completely irresponsible and lax policies which constantly hold the lives of thousands of people at ransom".

Referring to the contract Sellafield has to supply MOX fuel to Japan, she added: "I do hope that Japan is not going to resume trade with BNFL, and that the Irish Government is going to stand firm on the issue."

Her party colleague, Ms Nuala Ahern, MEP for Leinster, said she would be making a complaint to the Euratom Commission, "because of the damning nature of the UK Nuclear Safety Inspectorate report".

"Ireland is in the firing line should any such accident as occurred at Three Mile Island take place and this report makes it clear that this is a distinct possibility."

The Fianna Fail MEP for Leinster, Mr Jim Fitzsimons, said he believed the report would have far-reaching implications for the future of the nuclear industry in Britain.

"Let us remember, at this juncture, that BNFL is seeking a licence from the British government to manufacture MOX fuel into the future. It does not have a licence at this time . . . and it has to prove to the British government that there is an economic justification for the granting of a licence to BNFL to manufacture this nuclear by-product into the future."

He said: "I think it is now clear that the love affair between the British government and the British nuclear industry is now truly dead in the water."