An Irish move seeking an immediate end to reprocessing at Sellafield has received support among Nordic countries. This has emerged during a visit to Scandinavian capitals by the Minister of State with responsibility for Sellafield issues, Mr Joe Jacob. Support for the Irish position is likely to increase pressure on the British government in advance of a meeting of countries around the north Atlantic which are signatories to the OSPAR convention on marine pollution, which obliges countries to end nuclear discharges into the sea by 2020. they have already agreed to end nuclear discharges to the marine environment by 2020.
The meeting takes place next month in Copenhagen when the Irish "decision motion" will be tabled. Britain and France, despite continuing to reprocess fuel, have agreed to the terms of the discharges agreement reached in 1998.
Having met his counterparts in Iceland, Norway and Sweden earlier this week, and the Finnish Minister for the Environment, Mr Hassi, yesterday, Mr Jacob said there was "strong support for what we are trying to achieve".
"At the OSPAR meeting, Ireland will call for a cessation of reprocessing and associated activities and that, in particular, Sellafield reprocessing and associated activities be terminated immediately."
While Denmark backed by other Nordic countries (in an alliance under the chairmanship of Danish Environment Minister, Mr Svend Auken) was to the forefront in turning up the pressure against Sellafield earlier this year, the Irish "decision motion" to go before the 15 signatory countries is more strongly worded.
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.
Iceland and Norway were closest to the Irish position, Mr Jacob said, while Sweden and Finland - which have nuclear plants but, significantly, do not export any of their waste for reprocessing - were "somewhat more cautious".
Yet, Mr Jacob added, they were anxious not to break obvious solidarity within the Nordic alliance. This, he believed, would be to Ireland's advantage. He did not meet Mr Auken as they discussed strategy at a meeting in Dublin last month.
Mr Jacob repeated his view that both motions 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, he said. "Broadly speaking, the Danish position mirrors our own."
A qualified majority was sufficient to make any decision in June "OSPAR policy", which Britain in the long term could not ignore given commitments in the 1998 Sintra Agreement for "next to zero" discharges by 2020. But to be legally binding, Britain and France would have to support the motion.
Mr Jacob said he would be working in coming weeks with Nordic countries on the possibility of a "consensus text" with a view to securing a majority decision, or even a "unanimous decision binding on everyone".
