Calls for Sellafield closure due to contamination

There are renewed calls for the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant to be closed down following an admission by Britain’s Health Minister that the facility is a source of plutonium contamination in children’s teeth on both sides on the Irish Sea.

New tests carried out on the extracted teeth of more than 3,000 teenagers by health authorities, show that the level of plutonium among those who lived closest to the plant in Northern Ireland and Scotland had twice the amount found in those living 140 miles away.

The Green Party leader, Trevor Sargeant, says that some members of Britain’s Committee Examining Radiation Risks have cast doubt on research carried out six years ago, which suggested that plutonium posed no health risk.

In a statement last night, the Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen, has vowed to take all steps necessary to ensure the plant ceases to pose a threat to Ireland’s environment, and to its people.