TDs to question Sellafield bosses over leaks

A high-level group of TDs are to travel to Britain’s Sellafield nuclear plant to question bosses at the facility over recent radioactive fuel leaks, it has emerged.

Sean Haughey, chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, said TDs were worried after the disclosures of a massive leak from the Cumbria plant.

“Our committee would be concerned that information into the leak is only coming in a drip feed manner,” Mr Haughey said.

“There is also the management. They don‘t even know the extent of the problem yet and that is concerning us. Every month more information is being given out by the company on the extent of the leak.”

On the committee’s first visit to the plant, Mr Haughey said TDs would be querying management’s efforts to rectify the problem and ensure it does not happen again.

The UK industry watchdog, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) has warned Sellafield to make major safety improvements within four months.

The stern warnings came after safety experts investigated the massive leak at the thermal oxide reprocessing plant (Thorp).

The incident measured a worrying level three on the nuclear event scale.

The NII served two improvement notices after finding evidence of “significant deficiencies” at the nuclear reprocessing plant.

Last month, environment minister Dick Roche wrote to the British government and European Commission to highlight his lack of confidence in British Nuclear Fuels ltd (BNFL) over their management of the plant.

The leak was discovered by a CCTV camera on April 19, however, it was revealed the highly-radioactive nuclear fuel had started seeping from the broken pipe three months earlier.

“It went undetected, the pipe leaked enough to fill up an area the size of a couple of domestic bedrooms,” Mr Haughey said. “That must be cause for concern. The plant is now shut to deal with it.”

After a recent visit to the plant, the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII), said there had been no danger to Ireland from the recent incident.

But the watchdog questioned whether the temporary shut-down of the Thorp plant would impact on the closure timetable for the facility.

Mr Haughey said the committee took the decision to make the trip in private session last Wednesday.

He said the committee would travel to the plant in late September to investigate whether it had placed systems in place to detect any similar leaks.