The large leak of highly radioactive liquid at Sellafield's Thorp plant should not have any safety implications for people here, according to the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII).
"It is all contained within a building which has walls several feet thick," according to the RPII's Tony Colgan.
Cleaning up the spill of 83 cubic metres of plutonium and uranium dissolved in nitric acid will prove a "big headache" for Sellafield, however. The concrete chamber is too radioactive and dangerous for workers to enter.
No plan has yet been devised for removing the liquid but it may involve the use of robots or other remote controlled machines, according to a Sellafield spokeswoman.
Only one reprocessing "cell" is affected but the leak has forced the closure of the entire plant, she said yesterday. Thorp may have to remain closed until after the clean-up is complete.
The seriousness of the incident was "less than one" on the seven-step International Nuclear Event Scale, the Sellafield spokeswoman said. Dr Colgan countered this view however.
"They listed it as a class zero event. Class 1 is probably the more correct," he said, given it involved a significant amount of material even if there was no release.
Ireland and Britain agreed new early notification procedures last December and these appear to have worked for this incident.
The RPII was notified three days after the leak was first detected. It receives warnings from the UK's Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency.
The Department of the Environment received its notification four days after the discovery. It receives word through its UK counterparts via the British embassy in Dublin, Dr Colgan said.