No danger from any Sellafield leak: report

International experts have told the Government a radioactive leak at the Sellafield nuclear site would cause no observable health effects in the country.

The independent team of nuclear physicists, chemists, and engineers used previously secret data from the facility in Cumbria to declare the low risk.

But they found some severe incidents at Sellafield or the low-level waste repository have the potential to do significant damage to Ireland’s tourism, seafood, and farming industries because of concerns over radioactivity.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan said: “My department and others will now study the information in the report in detail and use it to feed it into Government policies relating to Sellafield and nuclear policy in the UK.

“Ireland must continue to be vigilant in relation to Sellafield as work to decommission the site over the lifetime of the Sellafield Plan continues.

“It is critical from an Irish perspective that the UK decommissioning of the site is undertaken safely and in accordance with best international practice.”

Possible scenarios looked at by the risk assessment panel included earthquakes, plane crashes, and human error. They also looked at what the impact would be hundreds of years from now from rising seas and severe coastal storms on the waste repository. It found currents and sea water would dilute the remains of radioactive materials.

Based on calculations that overestimate the effects of such a release, the report found the increase in radioactivity levels in sea-water would be barely detectable anywhere near the coast of Ireland.