Sellafield fears - Nuclear nightmare still looms

FEARS over the threat posed by the Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant to Ireland have deepened following yesterday’s guilty plea by the operators to a massive leak of radioactive fluid at the plant in Cumbria.

The plant’s scary record of inept management brings the Chernobyl disaster to mind. For tens of thousands of people in this country, as well as in Britain, Sellafield has become a time bomb.

The latest leak of deadly radioactive material, which forced the thermal oxide reprocessing plant to be shut down 14 months ago, was the third breach of the British Nuclear Installations Act since 1965. That the operators will face a hefty fine is small consolation, though it is to be welcomed.

This scenario further justifies Ireland’s campaign against Sellafield and the Government, having botched its last effort, must now redouble its efforts to have the reprocessing plant decommissioned and shut down once and for all.