Government urged to engage directly with Britain on nuclear power plants

THE Government has been urged to engage directly with British authorities after safety fears were raised about a wave of new nuclear power plants.

Last week the British government announced plans to open the new reactors in 2018 and seven facilities will be situated on the Irish Sea.

However, regulators in Britain, America, France and Finland have raised concerns about the two designs which will be used for the project.

Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd said the Government should get involved directly to ensure there is no risk to the public.

He said he would raise the issue of design flaws with the Radiological Protection Institute this morning and he is not satisfied with the response of the Government so far.

His comments came after it emerged the two companies earmarked for the supply of designs for the new generation of reactors in Britain have had difficulty with safety regulators in the past month.

In America, Westinghouse has been asked to revise the designs of its safety shield for its plant, which is supplying plants due for completion in 2016.

This put-down came after regulators worked with the company throughout the year to try bring its designs up to scratch.

The American nuclear regulatory commission said it was not robust enough to withstand natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

The second model, which was designed by Avera, has been told that its safety back-up system is too interconnected with the principal system.

Statements published by both companies in response to their respective safety concerns said the concerns were part of the development process.

Westinghouse said it had expected issues to be raised at this stage of the development process and had already begun addressing them.

Westinghouse added that it was on target to iron out problems in line with its 2011 target to obtain full certification.

“As a result of our understanding of the requirements, Westinghouse fully expected that the NRC would require additional analysis, testing or actual design modifications to the shield building.

“In fact, we had already begun to address certain portions of the design,” it said.

In France, Avera said it was working with the regulators in Britain, Finland and France to alter the designs to their satisfaction.

It said it wanted to provide the regulators with the information required by the end of the year.

Last night, the Department of Communications and Natural Resources did not comment on how it plans to deal with the safety concerns.

On Wednesday Taoiseach Brian Cowen was asked why Britain’s decision to press ahead with it nuclear plant construction programme was not the subject of discussions between the two governments.

Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the Taoiseach should be raising it with his counterpart, Gordon Brown.