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.