BNFL refuse to confirm that waste storage plan is permitted

SELLAFIELD bosses are refusing to speculate on reports that the British government is about to grant them permission to store thousands of extra tons of radioactive waste at their Welsh base, 50 miles from the Irish coast.

British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), which runs Sellafield, sought approval for the plan earlier this year in a bid to cut the number of shipments needed to take nuclear waste back to its overseas customers.

The company said yesterday it had not been notified of any decision and did not know what view the British authorities were taking of the request, despite a British newspaper report it was a done deal to be announced later in the summer.

The contents of the report were made known to officials from the Department of the Environment while they were in Britain yesterday discussing the future of Sellafield with their British counterparts.

A spokesman said last night that, as far as the Department and Minister Martin Cullen were concerned, consultation on the issue was ongoing and no final decision had been made by Britain. “We were aware of this issue and we have made very clear our view that anything that threatens the health and safety of Irish people or threatens damage to the Irish environment is not acceptable.”

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said he feared Ireland was being left out of the loop regarding developments at Sellafield, in spite of a ruling by the Court of Arbitration in The Hague which requires the British authorities to make full disclosure of information to the Irish Government.

“Clearly, if a decision has been made, or is close to being made, and the Department of the Environment don’t know about it, then the court order is not being honoured,” said Mr Sargent.

BNFL already uses Sellafield to store radioactive waste generated by the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from its power plants in Britain but under international agreements, the end product of used fuel brought in from abroad for reprocessing is supposed to be sent back to its country of origin.

Britain’s biggest nuclear trading partner is Japan and controversial shipments of waste material back to Japan are due to begin in 2007. BNFL estimates it would take 225 shipments in total in a complex operation taking years to complete. However, under a new “substitution” plan submitted by the company earlier this year, it said it could reduce the number of shipments to 38 and earn €300 million in extra income by sending back a smaller volume of waste with a higher radioactive level, and keeping a greater volume of waste with a lower radioactive level in Britain. BNFL spokeswoman Janine Clabber said last night the arrangement would result in a less than 2% increase in the volume of waste stored in Britain and would not require the building of any new storage facilities at Sellafield.

Mr Sargent criticised the company’s plans as an attempt to juggle unsafe material around to make it appear less when the real issue was its continuing production of the material.