Ireland's "ground-breaking" case against Britain before a tribunal in The Hague next week will put Sellafield on the international legal agenda for the first time, it was claimed yesterday.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, said that the case opening on Monday before the Ospar Convention's arbitration tribunal will be watched closely by the nuclear industry worldwide as well as by its opponents.
Ireland is seeking access to two partially-suppressed official reports commissioned by the British government on the environmental and economic aspects of the controversial MOX plant at Sellafield, which opened in mid-2001.
The reports were prepared prior to the British authorities approving the £473 million sterling facility for reprocessing mixed oxide fuel from nuclear reactors in 1993. However, large portions were "blanked out" due to commercial sensitivity.
Ireland's case for the full disclosure of both reports will be led by the Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady SC, whose involvement is seen as an indication of the seriousness with which the Government views this move beyond megaphone diplomacy.
Mr Cullen described is as a "defining moment" in the drive to have the British Nuclear Fuels complex at Sellafield closed down. "Getting access to those reports is the key to making a factual assessment on which to base further action," he said.
Although the current case was a move into "uncharted waters", he said that it put Ireland at the forefront of international concern about further expansion of the nuclear industry and would help to "build political awareness internationally" of Sellafield.
The case in The Hague is expected to continue all next week, but the Minister anticipated that it would be several months before the Ospar tribunal hands down its decision. Depending on the outcome, other legal avenues would be explored.
These could include taking a case to the European Court of Justice seeking to have Sellafield closed. "The economic justification for it is highly questionable," he said. "There is also deep concern in Scandinavian countries about its environmental impact."
It is understood that the Ospar Convention was chosen as the first port of call because it is independent of the EU and more widely based. The convention deals with emissions to the marine environment from all sources, including radioactive emissions.
Mr Cullen said that the resources committed to pursuing the case were "enormous" and the Attorney General had put a lot of work into it because of its "huge international significance", with countries from the US to Japan taking an interest in its outcome.
He accepted that the hearing in The Hague might go into private session to deal with commercially-sensitive issues. However, he hoped that the tribunal would conclude that no country had a right to withhold facts of significance to a neighbouring country.
