Irish resume bid to block Sellafield plant

The Government will tomorrow initiate a new bid to force the scrapping of a £470m development at the nuclear waste disposal complex in Sellafield, Cumbria.

The latest bid to halt the project will be launched at a United Nations Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, in Germany.

Attorney General Michael McDowell is to head his government team at the tribunal.

He will call for an immediate suspension of the scheduled commissioning of the new MOX plant at Sellafield on December 20.

Inter-governmental representations over the MOX venture have made repeatedly in recent months and have included discussions on the issue between Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern.

Concerns centre on the threat of radioactive pollution in the Irish Sea and more recently have centred on the prospect of a terrorist threat on the plant and the possible fall-out effects for Ireland.

Last week, however, the Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth movements lost a High Court action in London aimed at stopping the MOX project.

Both organisations said they would take their case to the Court of Appeal.