Legal bid to halt Sellafield by Govt

Plans by the British Government to allow a new MOX plant at Sellafield were today facing two legal challenges brought by Ireland and environmental groups, it has emerged.

The Irish Government and Greenpeace, acting with Friends of the Earth, are due to hold separate hearings next month to stop the project if the scheme is not shelved.

Dublin said London’s decision to allow the mixed oxide fuel plant to be built on the Cumbrian coast broke international laws on sea pollution.

And officials said they had received no information about a safety review at the site following the terrorist attacks on America.

Mark Johnston, Greenpeace’s nuclear campaigner, said: ‘‘There’s no case for opening it and every case for abandoning it.

‘‘Exporting weapons-usable plutonium in the present international climate is a disgrace and if it goes ahead it will only serve to undermine global security

‘‘We think the Prime Minister should give an undertaking that British Nuclear Fuels will not be allowed to proceed to contaminate the plant until the legal proceedings have been heard.’’

Ireland’s Public Enterprise department yesterday called for an international tribunal to be set up to resolve the dispute.

Meanwhile a cabinet sub-committee, including the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the Tanaiste Mary Harney and other senior cabinet ministers, has been set up to oversee the process.

Joe Jacob, a junior minister in the department, set a deadline of November 9 for Britain to suspend authorisation of the plant, which is closer to Dublin than London.

A department statement said: ‘‘Ireland has taken these proceedings because it considers that in taking steps to authorise the MOX plant, the United Kingdom has violated numerous provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

‘‘Ireland considers that the United Kingdom has failed to co-operate with Ireland by withholding information on the MOX plant, the United Kingdom has failed to carry out a proper environmental impact assessment of the of the MOX plant and transports of radioactive materials, and that by permitting new discharges of radioactive materials into the Irish Sea the United Kingdom would violate its obligations to protect the marine environment.’’

The statement added: ‘‘Further, Ireland considers that the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 warrant, pursuant to UNCLOS, a wholesale review of the security measures relating to the proposed operation of the MOX plant and international movements of radioactive materials.’’

The department called for the international arbitration tribunal to be set up but recognised this may ‘‘take some time’’. Officials believe the MOX plant could be operational by November 23.

‘‘In the event that the United Kingdom does not voluntarily suspend the authorisation of the MOX plant, on November 9 Ireland will ask the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to order an immediate suspension of the authorisation of the MOX plant and international transports, pending any decision of the arbitration panel.’’

Greenpeace and FoE have joined forces to hold a judicial review against the British Government’s plan and criticised it for potentially posing a hazard to the public on both sides of the Irish Sea.

FoE spokesman Ian Wilmore explained the review was due to be heard at the High Court in London on November 8 and 9 and would centre on whether or not a reasonable decision to go ahead with the new facility was taken.

Both environmental groups believe the move was not reasonable because they claim it wrongly estimated the economic gain from the plan.

A spokesman for the British Foreign Office confirmed that officials had received documents informing them of the legal action.

‘‘We are studying the matter. We cannot comment further on these legal proceedings at this stage,’’ the spokesman said.