THE GOVERNMENT wants forthcoming stress tests on EU nuclear installations to include the Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria, Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte has said.
At a special meeting to discuss the Fukushima nuclear emergency and the turmoil in the Arab world, the EU agreed yesterday that Europe’s 143 reactors should be subject to new safety standards.
Mr Rabbitte told reporters as the meeting broke up that the Government did not detect any resistance by London to the inclusion of Sellafield. “The Irish Government wishes that the stress tests that are going on will include Sellafield,” he said. “I have no reason to believe that there will be resistance. There’s no evidence to that effect.”
Mr Rabbitte had hoped to meet bilaterally yesterday with British energy secretary Chris Huhne, but he was in London for a debate in Westminster on the allied military intervention in Libya.
Citing long-standing opposition in Ireland to the use of nuclear energy, he said the events in the Japan were bound to have an influence on policy thinking in Europe.
“I can’t see any circumstance where we would resort to nuclear in dealing with our energy needs.”
The Minister said there was no threat to the security of Irish energy supplies as a result of the political instability in North Africa and the Middle East. He acknowledged, however, an impact on the price of fuel but did not speculate as to its potential impact on the Government’s economic plan. “It’s something which clearly has a dynamic of its own,” he said.
Germany and Austria are leading a renewed push to phase out nuclear energy from Europe, while France has said there should be pan-European standards in the sector.
However, EU energy commissioner Günther Oettinger said there were “very few” questions on which member states and parliaments had such a disparity of views as on nuclear energy.
All agreed, however, that security was paramount. “All ministers today are trying to set up a common set of European security standards to minimise the risk of any disaster,” he said.
“This is not true only of the EU 27 – everybody has expressed a great deal of interest in ensuring major neighbouring countries such as Switzerland and Turkey, Ukraine or others, continue to develop their nuclear security.”
EU leaders are expected to sign off on the parameters of the stress test exercise at the end of the week.
