Green Party concerned about missing Sellafield plutonium

The Green Party has expressed concern at the news that 30kg of plutonium appears to be missing from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Britain.

An annual audit of the plant, due to be published today, shows that the material, which could be used to make up to eight nuclear bombs, is unaccounted for.

British Nuclear Fuels and the British government have both insisted that the discrepancy is not usual in an audit of this type and did not mean that the plutonium had been stolen or lost.

However, Green Party leader Trevor Sargeant said he was still concerned that it could end up in the hands of terrorists.

"It's an extremely serious development," he said. "We will be calling on the Minister for the Environment and on the Taoiseach in the Dáil this morning to initiate an investigation with the British government to ensure that they can trace this material."