Pressure on the British government to end reprocessing of nuclear fuel at the beleaguered Sellafield plant has further intensified with the Irish and Danish governments outlining how they intend "at the very least" to force an immediate suspension of reprocessing.
Following a meeting in Dublin yesterday with Government representatives, including the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, the Danish Environment Minister, Mr Svend Auken, said any suspension, prompted under an international convention on marine pollution, was likely to lead to the end of reprocessing at the THORP plant and of MOX (mixed oxide) fuel production at the BNFL site.
The alliance between the two countries and their use of the OSPAR convention meant "continued pressure" was about to reap dividends, Mr Auken said. He was confident of receiving majority support among Nordic countries and those who have suspended reprocessing contracts with BNFL - notably Germany and Switzerland - in light of falsification of test results.
The Taoiseach emphasised to Mr Auken that closure of Sellafield's reprocessing plant was high on the Irish political agenda, a Government spokesman said, and Mr Ahern had made this clear to the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, at their recent meeting in Lisbon.
There were indications Britain was coming to the view that an end to reprocessing was appropriate, Mr Auken said, given its commitments to OSPAR and the collapse of foreign contracts. The Guardian reported that the Blair government is expected to "abandon altogether" nuclear reprocessing and propose the move in a Green Paper to be published in May - a story which was not denied yesterday.
While Denmark, backed by other Nordic countries, has been to the forefront in turning up the pressure against Sellafield, the Irish "decision motion" to go before the 15 signatory countries of the convention in June is significantly stronger. It calls for "cessation of reprocessing immediately". The Danes are seeking suspension "with immediate effect", with any resumption of nuclear processing contingent on dealing with spent fuel using "dry storage", once it is shown to be effective.
The Minister of State with responsibility for Sellafield issues, Mr Joe Jacob, said both moves represented key actions in "the beginning of the end for Sellafield". While there was some variation in approaches, the end result was likely to be the same.
Mr Auken said a qualified majority was sufficient to make any decision in June "OSPAR policy", which Britain could not ignore given commitments in the 1998 Sintra Agreement for "next to zero" discharges by 2020. To be binding, Britain and France would have to support the motion, which was a move he would not rule out.
BNFL said it remained committed to achieving its OSPAR obligations by 2020 but had to continue decommissioning and waste management at Sellafield, which it was doing by improving "treatment technologies". Discharge authorisations announced last year by the UK government would decrease the impact of discharges into the Irish Sea. BNFL had £12 billion in reprocessing orders to complete and every intention of fulfilling them, a spokeswoman said.
Labour TD Mr Emmet Stagg hoped the Danish initiative would force the Government to take a more active stance, with the Taoiseach leading the campaign, given his "fine words on Sellafield" at the Fianna Fail Ardfheis.
The Green Party spokesman on marine and nuclear affairs, Mr Trevor Sargent TD, said Nordic states expected Ireland to be leading the campaign for closure, given its proximity to Sellafield.
