The Government today issued an renewed plea to Britain to halt the scheduled commissioning of the mixed-oxide (MOX) plant at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing complex.
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Homes in the shadow of the Sellafield nuclear power plant near Seascale. Photograph: Ian Hodgson/Reuters
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The Minister with responsibility for Nuclear Safety, Mr Joe Jacob, made the appeal after demanding full clarification from the British authorities about the shutdown of a number of reactors at Sellafield in recent days.
The Government also received support from Norway today in its efforts to force the total closure of Sellafield.
In talks with Mr Jacob, Norwegian Environment Minister Mr Borge Brenda said his government believed the discharges from the Cumbrian plant were responsible for an increase in radioactivity off the coast of Norway.
He said: "We are giving Ireland full support on this."
After his discussions with Mr Jacob, Mr Brenda departed for a visit to Britain which includes a trip to Sellafield.
Mr Jacob said: "I am again calling on Britain not to proceed and commission MOX, pending legal actions that are under way."
Speaking on weekend reports of precautionary reactor closedowns at the controversial complex, the Irish minister claimed: "We were not advised of that in line with stated agreements.
"We are protesting about that, and this clearly justifies our Government's determination to have Sellafield closed.
"It also serves to underpin the importance of the legal actions and avenues being currently pursued by us."
An Irish bid to stop the MOX commissioning was rejected earlier this month by the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
In its ruling, the UN court allowed the British government to go-ahead with the production of MOX at the plant under condition that it provides detailed plans on how it intends to monitor the risks and effects of the operation on the environment.
Part of Ireland's case against Sellafield at the tribunal was based on the possibility of terrorist strikes on the plant in the wake of the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington.
PA