Renewed call for probe likely after disaster findings

RENEWED calls for an investigation of possible links between a cluster of illnesses along Ireland’s east coast and the 1957 Windscale nuclear disaster are likely, following confirmation that twice as much radioactive debris was discharged in the fire as was originally claimed.

The finding was made by British scientists after a study of weather patterns and distribution of radioactive material in the aftermath of the accident at the Cumbrian plant, renamed Sellafield in subsequent years.

Dundalk-based campaigners have long argued a cluster of Downs Syndrome cases in the region may have been caused by radiation emitted by the 1957 fire.

The new scientific findings come just days before the 50th anniversary of the blaze, which occurred on October 10, 1957.

Former British Atomic Energy Authority researcher John Garland has admitted it had to double their estimates of the amount of toxic polonium, caesium and iodine released at the time. Scientists involved in the re-evaluation of the fire’s effects are saying dozens more cases of cancer may have been caused.

Up to 200 cases of thyroid and breast cancer and leukaemia were already thought to have been caused in Britain by the accident.

“Several dozen more cancer cases may have to be added to our total,” said epidemiologist Professor Richard Wakeford of Manchester University. However, Wakeford said it was impossible to determine which individual cancer cases might be linked to the incident at Windscale.

“We can only say an excess in cancer cases was caused by the fire.”

Fifty years after the fire, caused when graphite rods used to control nuclear reactions in the plant’s core ignited, the reactor involved remains soaked in too much radiation to allow for decommissioning.

In the immediate aftermath, the British government imposed a six-week ban on milk from cows grazing within 300km of the nuclear facility.

However, it’s now known that radioactivity was blown throughout Britain and northern Europe by the prevailing winds at the time.

Campaigners in Britain are using the 50th anniversary of the disaster to argue against future nuclear plans. However, the nuclear industry say the Windscale fire was a result of the primitive technology, rather than nuclear power itself.

The fallout - Effects of the Windscale disaster:

* Twice as much radioactive debris emitted in the 1957 fire as was originally thought.

* Several dozen cancer cases may have been linked to the emissions.

* Thyroid and breast cancer, as well as leukaemia, caused by the fire.

* Radioactive material spread throughout much of northern Europe by prevailing winds.

* Polonium, caesium and iodine among the elements released into the atmosphere.