Government begins legal bid to shut Sellafield

THE Government yesterday demanded Britain be forced to immediately shut down the MOX plant at Sellafield at the opening day of its legal action in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Attorney General Rory Brady yesterday told the court the plant pollutes the Irish Sea, increases the danger of a terrorist attack and violates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The MOX plant was opened in Sellafield in December 2001, almost six years after public hearings begun into it. It manufactures mixed oxide fuel, made from uranium and plutonium, for export and use in nuclear power stations.