British Nuclear Fuel Ltd confirmed last night that there may be some increases in radioactive discharges into the Irish Sea from Sellafield. BNFL was responding to Fine Gael's environment spokesman, Mr Bernard Allen, who described the expected increase in discharge levels as "extremely worrying".
The issue is to be raised by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, with the British Ambassador, Mr Stewart Eldon, when they meet to discuss the matter today.
"As we wind down the commercial operation at Sellafield and shift the focus to decommissioning and cleaning up the nuclear legacy, there may be some increases in the short-term of particular radionuclides," a BNFL spokesman told The Irish Times last night. When asked what was meant by "the short-term", the spokesman said that was "a question no one knows the answer to right now".
There was no way of decommissioning "without an increase in radioactive discharge but once it's finished that's the end of it".
Mr Kenny and Mr Allen were informed of the expected rise in radioactive discharges during a meeting with senior BNFL executives at Sellafield on Tuesday.
"There will be fluctuations but they won't go above the acceptable limit within the UK National Radiation Discharge Strategy," said the BNFL spokesman."The scale of this increase is unknown but BNFL have given a commitment to provide all relevant information.".
Mr Allen is now calling on the Taoiseach and the Minister for Environment, Mr Cullen, to discuss the matter with the British government. "It seems incredible that the Irish Government did not know, or if it did, did not make this information available to the public," said Mr Allen yesterday.