Sellafield to be assessed as part of EU safety review

THE safety of the Sellafield nuclear plant in Wales will be assessed as part of an EU-wide review following the disaster in Japan.

Speaking following the two-day EU summit in Brussels yesterday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he had specifically requested that Sellafield be included in the review.

Sellafield is a reprocessing plant rather than a generating plant, meaning it separates spent nuclear fuel into recyclable and waste elements rather than generating electricity itself.

But Ireland has long opposed Sellafield on health and safety grounds, and wants the plant shut down.

Following the disaster in Japan, EU leaders have agreed to carry out “stress tests” on nuclear plants within the union, and that Sellafield should be included.

“There was quite a deal of discussion about this. I think there are 70 nuclear stations in France; they haven’t had an incident in 45 years,” Mr Kenny said.

“In other cases, heads of government made it known that some countries are signing up for new nuclear power stations without any reference to neighbouring countries. This is a cause of some anxiety.

“But in respect of the union being concerned about the protection of neighbouring countries with nuclear facilities, I did raise the question as to whether this (review) would include reprocessing plants like Sellafield, and it does.

“And I raised that in the presence of the British prime minister and made it obviously known that Ireland had had a difficulty with Sellafield on many occasions over many years.”

Mr Kenny said it was clear there were “lessons to be learned” from what happened in Japan, and said the findings of the EU-wide review would be made public.

“The agreement was that the assessments would be carried out by independent national authorities together with the nuclear authorities and the European Commission, and that there would be a report published on this in due course, and that it would be made public,” he said.

The European Nuclear Safety Regulatory Group and the European Commission will work to develop a framework for how the tests should be conducted.

The Commission will present a report with “initial findings” to EU leaders by the end of this year.