Roche to ask British government to close Sellafield

The Minister for the Environment has travelled to London today for talks on the controversial Sellafield nuclear treatment plant.

Minister Dick Roche will be asking his British counterpart when the controversial Thorpe reprocessing facility will be closed down.

Minister Roche says the Irish Government has always had grave doubts about the safety of the plant and that a major leak there last April went undetected for some time.

He said that the Government has always "abhorred" the building of the plant and question both its economic viability and its logic.

Mr Roche said he will demand "finality on the issue of a closure date".