THE European Commission is to take legal action against the British Government over "unacceptable failings" in dealing with nuclear waste at the Sellafield plant in Cumbria.

The British government has reportedly failed to meet an EU deadline for outlining how it plans to clean up a radioactive site at Sellafield.

YESTERDAY’S dramatic swoop on terrorist suspects in Britain heightens the urgency of increased garda vigilance against the threat of al-Qaida attacks in Ireland.

Britain was today ordered to clean up the Sellafield nuclear plant after the EC complained current conditions prevented its safety inspectors from carrying out proper checks.

An official from British Nuclear Fuels has insisted that the controversial Sellafield nuclear plant poses no risk to Ireland.

British Nuclear Fuels, the company that owns Sellafield, has reportedly accepted an invitation to a public meeting in Co Louth to discuss the threat posed by the nuclear plant.

A planned strike by workers at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant was called off today so that further talks aimed at resolving a pay dispute can be held.

Hundreds of workers at the Sellafield nuclear processing plant were staging a walk-out today in a dispute over pay.

Fianna Fáil TD Barry Andrews has called on the British government to ensure that safety and security are not compromised during planned strike action at the Sellafield nuclear plant today.

Workers at the British nuclear reprocessing plant in Sellafield are to stage two one-day strikes in a dispute over pay, unions announced today.

THE Government has demanded clarification from Britain following conflicting reports about plans to close the THORP nuclear reprocessing facility at Sellafield.

The Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield is to close by 2010, a leading environmental campaign group predicted today.

British Nuclear Fuels has released a statement insisting that it does not have the power to decide on the closure of the Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield.

The Government has cautiously welcomed newspaper reports that British Nuclear Fuels is planning to close the Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield within the next seven years.

The Green Party has welcomed the decision by British Nuclear Fuels to close the Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield before the end of this decade.

British Nuclear Fuels is reportedly planning to close the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield before the end of this decade.

I SUFFER from a very rare condition: irony deficiency. For where my fellow citizens see merely a humorous irony I am often troubled

IRELAND will go to the United Nations tomorrow to argue that the Sellafield MOX Plant be shut down.

HEALTH and radiation surveys have pointed to the Sellafield nuclear processing plant in Cumbria as being almost as much a hazard for people on Ireland's east coast as it is to those living and working near the British plant.

British Nuclear Fuels, the company which runs the Sellafield nuclear plant, has insisted that safety at the controversial facility will not be compromised by next week's firefighters' strike in Britain.

The UN Court of Arbitration has begun hearing an Irish application to force Britain to disclose its financial plans and projects for the Sellafield nuclear plant.

Ireland is today taking the British government to a tribunal in The Hague in a bid to gain access to information on Sellafield’s MOX plant.

THE return of shipments of radioactive plutonium fuel, rejected from Japan, is the final humiliation for British Nuclear Fuels, Greenpeace said yesterday.

A shipload of returned radioactive nuclear fuel from Japan has completed its controversial journey to Cumbria from Japan.

A FLOTILLA of Greenpeace-led boats which intercepted two nuclear fuel-laden freighters bound for Sellafield, last night declared: “The fight must go on.”

Environmental campaigners aboard a Greenpeace-led protest which intercepted two nuclear freighters in the Irish Sea tonight declared: “The fight must go on.”

British Nuclear Fuels today appealed to Greenpeace-led environmental activists to protest in a “safe and responsible manner” after two ships carrying radioactive material entered the Irish Sea.

Bertie Ahern today made a courtesy call to the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior, currently docked in Dublin ahead of the arrival in the Irish Sea of a double shipment of nuclear waste material.

SPECULATION was mounting yesterday that the British Government will offer an emergency rescue package to struggling nuclear giant British Energy this week.

Greenpeace has welcomed the Government’s decision to send the navy and the air corps to monitor a nuclear shipment due to pass through the Irish Sea this month.

The British Embassy in Ireland has hit out at Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny after he called on the Government to declare an immediate and unconditional war on the British nuclear industry.

IRELAND has formed an alliance with five other European Union countries in a bid to limit the expansion of nuclear energy.

Pop star Jim Corr today became the latest of a string of celebrities and politicians to voice opposition to a nuclear shipment which is due to arrive in Sellafield within weeks.

A task force chaired by Defence Minister Michael Smith is to meet next week to discuss the shipment of mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel being returned to Sellafield through the Irish Sea.

Troubled nuclear power group British Energy today confirmed it was continuing talks with British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to operate the firm’s Magnox reactors.

BRITISH Nuclear Fuels, the company which runs Sellafield, was accused yesterday of using British Government grants for environmental clean-ups to subsidise its day-to-day running costs.

The Green Party has renewed its call for the closure of the Sellafield nuclear plant after British Nuclear Fuels, the company which runs the factory, reported losses of £2.3bn (€3.5bn) today.

State-owned atomic energy giant British Nuclear Fuels is poised to report huge losses of £2bn (€3.1bn) for the last year.

Anti-nuclear activists set sail on two boats from Sydney today to join a flotilla that was planning to intercept a ship carrying nuclear material from Japan to Britain.

Greenpeace was today applying to Britain's High Court to prevent a consignment of weapons-usable plutonium being shipped from Japan to the UK.

The European Commission was criticised last night for letting a top British official in charge of nuclear safety take up a new job with British Nuclear Fuels.

The Corrs have joined the postcard campaign urging the British government to close the MOX plant at Sellafield.

The Irish campaign to close Sellafield has hit a setback as a proposed

An official ceremony was being held today to mark the closure of one of Britain’s oldest nuclear power stations.