The first step towards the estimated €30 million clean-up of hazardous material at the steel mill on Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour is expected by September. Cork County Council has commissioned consultants to prepare tender documents for the project and these should be ready by the end of the summer.
The tender documents are not expected to include any reference to disposing of radioactive material, as both the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) and the liquidator of Irish Ispat, Mr Ray Jackson of KMPG, confirmed that all radioactive material had been removed from the site and exported abroad for disposal.
Cork County Council has been appointed as an agent by the Department of the Environment, in conjunction with Defence, Finance and Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, to commission a report on the condition of the former steel mill and the hazardous materials stored there since the plant closed in June 2001 with the loss of 400 jobs.
A council spokesman yesterday confirmed that it had appointed British company Hyder Consultancy to prepare documents for a site investigation contract. These are expected to be ready by September and tenders will then be sought from companies with the necessary expertise to assess what exactly has to be done on the site.
The successful company's report will be forwarded to the Department of the Environment for consideration as to the next step in the clean-up process which now rests with the State following its failure in the High Court last month to compel the Irish Ispat liquidator to carry out the clean-up operation.
Last month, the High Court heard that hazardous and radioactive materials had been identified at the site. The cost of rehabilitation had been estimated at €30 million by English environmental consultants, Enviros, in an unpublished report in 2002 for the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.
Mr Jackson yesterday confirmed that the radioactive material had been removed from the site more than 12 months ago and sent to the US. It had accumulated at the plant over the past 28 years and not just from Irish Ispat's ownership of the plant, he said.
Dr Stephen Fennell, manager of regulatory services with the RPII confirmed it had "no outstanding issues with the liquidator" and that the material had been safely and securely stored.
It was kept in secured caves on Rocky Island between Haulbowline Island and Ringaskiddy. It was inspected regularly by staff from the Radiological Protection Institute, Dr Fennell said, and was found to be stored in accordance with the terms of its licence.
Cork South Central Green Party TD Mr Dan Boyle yesterday expressed concern about the presence of slag heaps at the eastern end of Haulbowline Island and said there was a real danger of heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury leaching into the sea, sedimenting on fish feeding grounds and entering the food chain through fish consumption.
The chairman of the Ringaskiddy and District Residents Association, Mr Graham Brennan, admitted that the issue of pollution from the Irish Ispat plant had been superseded by concerns over the proposed Indaver Ireland incinerator planned for just opposite Haulbowline, but locals were still concerned at any possible delays in cleaning up Irish Ispat.
"There's no doubt there was major pollution going on here for years when the plant was in production," Mr Brennan said. "You used to see plumes of smoke coming out from the chimney stacks here, but nobody complained too much because of the jobs. Now the jobs are gone and it seems there could still be pollution of the water from the slag heaps spilling into the sea."
