Kenny wants war on British nuclear industry

The Government must declare “immediate unconditional war” on the British nuclear industry, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said today.

Mr Kenny said British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), which operates the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant, could not be trusted and was putting Irish lives at risk.

Mr Kenny was speaking aboard the Greenpeace flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, docked in Dublin, just days before it leads a flotilla into the Irish Sea to protest at a shipment of radioactive fuel to the Cumbrian installation.

He said: “The Government must declare immediate and unconditional war on the British nuclear industry in the interest of public safety and national security.”

Mr Kenny added: “With the first anniversary of the terror attack imminent, and speculation of renewed attacks rife internationally, dramatic political intervention at the highest levels can be the only adequate response to the potentially catastrophic threat posed by the British nuclear facility to the people and the very island of Ireland.”

He called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to visit Sellafield "as BNFL offered last year" and to seek reassurances from his British counterpart, Tony Blair, that security at the plant had been stepped up.

BNFL has insisted that extra safety measures were taken following September 11 but could not disclose the confidential details.

But Mr Kenny said: “Sellafield is vulnerable to attack by road, sea, air, rail and by pedestrian access.

“Given the BNFL’s track record, I believe paranoia to be the only adequate response to the magnitude of the Sellafield threat. It’s no exaggeration to call it apocalyptic.

“We’ve crept around BNFL for too long. It’s a matter of fact – not opinion - that BNFL cannot be trusted.”

He added: “I’m not happy to put the lives of any Irish child, including my own, in the hands of BNFL.”

Two ships, the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal, will deliver their five-tonne cargo of plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) to Sellafield under armed guard within the next few weeks.

No-one from BNFL was immediately able to comment.