The chairman of the Oireachtas Environment Committee Mr Seán Power has welcomed an announcement by the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, that there will be no further nuclear power stations built there. But he has called on him to decommission the existing nuclear facilities in Britain.
"Mr Blair's rejection of the construction of new nuclear power stations is hopefully a sign that Britain is beginning to listen to our concerns about the environmental and terror threat represented by such installations," he said.
Britain's existing 16 nuclear plants had "a working life of about 30 years left, but if Mr Blair is serious in his policies he will act now to considerably shorten that lifespan," he said.
"Meanwhile we will continue our efforts to have Sellafield closed."