Irlandinitiative Heidelberg - The Nuclear Power Mafia and a Short History of Resistence

Five tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium and thousands of gallons of contaminated sludge have been discovered at the bottom of a pond at Sellafield, Britain's nuclear waste treatment facility.

The area in which the pond is situated is so contaminated, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) workers are allowed just one hour per day exposure to the radiation.

The discovery was made by the European Commission's nuclear inspectorate at the highly secretive plant on Britain's west coast, which environmentalists have blamed for unusual cancer outbreaks in Ireland.

BNFL have been unable to quantify the extent of the environmental threat posed by the waste.

Dublin's Environment Minister Martin Cullen is now attempting to have Irish nuclear inspectors visit the Sellafield site, less than 100 miles from County Louth.

The pond, which was constructed in the 1960s, was designed as a holding facility for weapons grade plutonium. BNFL has been unable to produce documentation showing the exact quantity of plutonium in the pond, said to be in a serious state of decay.

EU inspectors, operating under the terms of the Euratom Treaty, believe the pond contains at least 1.3 tonnes of plutonium, the primary ingredient of nuclear weapons.

But the pond could contained anything up to five tonnes of plutonium, accroding to an analysis of BNFL statistics.

Mr Cullen told Irish television last night the inspectors' report was "very worrying". Sellafield could no longer be allowed to operate under a veil of secrecy, he said.

The Sellafield complex in Cumbria includes three old experimental nuclear reactors, four shut-down nuclear power plants and many thousands of tonnes of radioactive fuel and high-level wastes.

There is also the infamous Windscale Pile One experimental reactor that caught fire in October 1957 and caused the world's first major nuclear accident.

Windscale One and Two, two of Britain's earliest reactors, built in the 1940s to produce weapons grade plutonium are now being dismantled, along with the experimental Windscale advanced gas-cooled reactor.

This will mean an additional huge volume of radioactive waste will have to be stored at Sellafield.

Wednesday-Thursday, 29-30 January, 2003

Visiting councillors not told of Sellafield leak

Sinn Fein councillors Martin Meehan and Willie Clarke, representig Antrim and Down, were part of a delegation of councillors visiting the Sellafield Nuclear Plant last week when a lithium nitrate leak led to workers in part of the plant being evacuated. The Sinn Fein councillors were among eight councillors who were visiting the Cumbrian plant on Wednesday 22 January in a visit organised by the Six-County Local Government Association (NILGA).

Unsurprisingly, they subsequently called for the closure of the plant and the end of dumping of nuclear waste in the Irish Sea.

Meehan said the delegation was only informed the next day about the incident. "We were told we were not in any danger, but to be honest I'm far from convinced. It makes our calls for the closure of this plant even stronger, given the fact that a leak actually occurred when we were there".

Sellafield employees told Meehan that less than two weeks before the delegation arrived at Sellafield, a worker at the nuclear site had died due to a fall and that his body had to be decontaminated before being removed from the plant.

Meehan said he demanded reassurances for his constituents, who blame Sellafield for high cancer levels.

"Despite such occurrences at the plant, the Public Relations team at Sellafield continue to push a very hard line that the plant is super safe. But the facts keep showing an entirely different picture.

"This plant must close and the concerns of the Irish people must be addressed by the British government."

Saturday-Sunday, 1-2 March, 2003

Morgan calls for renewed campaign to shut Sellafield

Maybe not a u-turn but the brakes have clearly been applied on the nuclear industry in Britain this week. The publication of the British government's White Paper on Energy failed to include the ringing endorsement sought by some within Blair's cabinet and the opposition Conservative Party for the nuclear power option.

The Energy review also opens a new window of opportunity for the Dublin government to show leadership and political resolve by campaigning on every front for the shutting down of Sellafield and for the running down of the whole nuclear power industry.

Sinn Fein's Arthur Morgan, who made a written submission to Tony Blair outlining a range of proposals on the review, has called on Bertie Ahern to now intensify his government's efforts to shut Sellafield.

Morgan said: "Though the report is weak on its support for renewable energy resources and is unclear on actually how it will achieve a 60% cut in carbon dioxide emissions, it is far removed from endorsing the proposal for 50 new nuclear power stations floated by New Labour Energy Minister Brian Wilson in July 2001."

The conclusion to the report states that "current economics make it an unattractive option for new, carbon free generating capacity. There are also important issues of waste to be resolved".

Morgan interprets this finding in a positive light. He says that "the failure to give an endorsement for renewed investment in nuclear power was a positive outcome, though the 10% target for use of renewable energy by 2010 was very weak, especially as 25% of current British electricity production is generated by nuclear power".

Morgan called on the Dublin government to use the opportunity and space created by the White Paper's publication as a spur "to redouble our lobbying, legal initiatives and campaigning against Sellafield and Britain's dirty nuclear industry".

One of the other positive outcomes of the report was that it makes reference to the issue of stockpiled nuclear waste, called "legacy waste" in the review. This legacy waste includes 10,000 tonnes of solid nuclear waste, most of which is currently stored at Sellafield.

Morgan also pointed to a pulling back on proposals to build new power stations on "existing nuclear site such as Dounreay and Sellafield". He said: "This crazy idea has for now been knocked on the head but only a concerted campaign will ensure it is completely dead in the water."

Though the Energy Review recognises that nuclear power generation is not economically viable in current market conditions, it doesn't address the question of when it was ever economically viable. British Nuclear Fuels lost #3.6 billion last year, its third year of losses. British Energy is also in the red. Added to this is a waste disposal bill of at least #34 billion for decommissioning the Magnox reactors and it is clear that the industry was never economically viable.

Morgan was asked about his submission to Blair on the Energy Review and last January's meeting in Downing Street where, as part of a Sinn Fein delegation on the peace process, he also raised the issue of Sellafield and the British nuclear industry.

Morgan said: "I wrote to Tony Blair regarding the Energy Review, and also discussed with him the need to invest in renewable power technology. Sinn Fein also proposed that the two governments consider a joint wind and/or wave project for power generation to tap our shared unique resources in the area of renewable energy."

"It was clear from our meeting that he himself was uneasy with supporting the nuclear option. His proposal this week for more radical targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions is welcome but he must be more clear cut about how he actually will do this."

Sunday-Monday, 22-23 June, 2003

Salmon in Irish Sea 'radioactive' - report

Reports today have revealed radioactive contamination in smoked salmon from the Irish sea. The contamination was discovered in salmon on shop shelves in Britain, according to a report in the right-wing Daily Telegraph.

The reports have embarrassed the Irish government, which has failed to persuade the Britiswh government to reduce radioactive discharges from the Sellafield nuclear plant into the Irish Sea, as a high-level conference on the marine environment gets under way in Germany.

And as if the Sellafield discharges were not enough, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has recently announced further test firing into the north Irish Sea, on this occasion from the weapons range at Eskmeals in Cumbria, reveals Bernard Moffatt, Secretary General of the Celtic League.

"It is difficult to quantify the environmental impact of such testing but suffice to say it is considerable," says Moffatt. The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries of the western British Isles and Brittany. It works to promote mutual cooperation and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It targets human rights abuse and monitors all military activity within these areas.

Further north from Eskmeals in the Solway, reports Moffatt, depleted uranium munitions have been expended for several years. Similar activity has also occurred further west in test areas in the north Channel. A large area of the coast off the north west of the Isle of Man is polluted with air-dropped explosives munitions expended for 40 years into the sea off Jurby. Despite repeated requests for the area to be cleaned up, the British government remains obdurate.

"To the south of us in the Central Irish seas, missile ranges in north and mid Wales add their detritus to this accumulation of MoD explosives and scrap metal," says Moffatt. "It is arrogance of the most blatant kind on the part of the British government and Ministry of Defence to continue to regard the Irish sea, which is the common inheritance of the communities that surround it, as their dumping ground.

"All concerned organisations, governments and politicians should express disquiet at this continued pollution of the marine environment.

The Irish Sea is not a tip... We hope that the Manx government will register a protest with the MoD. The Celtic League certainly will

Monday-Wednesday, 25-27 August, 2003

British government urged to confirm Sellafield reports

Environmental activists on both sides of the border last night welcomed reports that part of the Sellafield nuclear processing plant is to close by 2010.

British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) is said to be planning close its #1.8 billion thermal oxide reprocessing plant (Thorp) on the north-west coast of England as soon as it has fulfilled its contracts.

The plant has been blamed for polluting the Irish Sea and raising radioactivity levels in seafood. Its close proximity to Ireland's east coast has raised concerns over the health risks of both minor and major incidents at the plant, which has a notoriously bad safety record.

BNFL said in a statement last night that it intended to shift focus from nuclear reprocessing at Sellafield to managing radioactive waste, but did not explicity confirm the reports.

Dublin's environment minister, Martin Cullen, claimed credit for the move on behalf of the Irish government.

He said: "There is reason for cautious optimism. There is a realisation that nuclear reprocessing and discharges of nuclear waste into the Irish Sea is not viable. The Irish government's campaign is paying dividends but we must keep the pressure applied."

Sinn Fein environment spokesman and Louth TD Arthur Morgan said the Thorp plant should never have been opened.

"Whereas I welcome reports that the Thorp nuclear plant is to close by 2010 we need to hear confirmation of this from the British government," he said.

"We also need to see details in relation to what actions are to be taken in relation to all other activity at the Sellafield site, which has caused almost an epidemic of cancer on the east coast of Ireland generally and in Louth in particular.

"It is important that neither the government of this state nor the Irish people should in any way lessen their campaign for the closure of all operations in Sellafield."

Thursday-Friday, 4-5 December, 2003

Sellafield debris washes ashore on Down coast

Sections of discharge pipe from the Sellafield nuclear processing plant have been found washed up on beaches in County Down.

Sections of the pipe, over two metres in length and described by BNFL as being 'lightly radioactively contaminated' were being removed from the seabed as part of the Sea Line Recovery programme when they broke free from their retaining cages.

This most recent 'mishap' is just the latest in a catalogue of accidents and near disasters which has plagued the Cumbria plant since its opening in 1947.

Local people have not been reassured by the claims of BNFL that these pipes pose no health risk.

"The operation to remove the redundant pipes began earlier this year and was being used as a method to test the system before attempting to salvage the more heavily contaminated steel pipelines historically used for the highly radioactive reprocessing charges.

"BNFL has a number of serious questions to answer", said Sinn Fein South Down MLA Willie Clark. "If these steel reprocessing pipes had broken loose during their removal then there was a real risk of serious radioactive contamination.

Clark has demanded a full explanation from BNFL and the direct rule British minister for the Environment, Angela Smith.regarding what has been lost from the plant and the extent of the contamination caused.

"The long-term impact of Sellafield on our environment has been very negative, the health risks major and the potential it has for causing a catastrophe cannot be overstated.

"This incident highlights yet again its abysmal safety record and illustrates the dangers of the nuclear industry in Britain.

"Sellafield must be closed and there must be an immediate end again to the dumping of nuclear waste in the Irish Sea."

Tuesday-Wednesday, 15-16 January, 2002

Sinn Fein TD to visit Sellafield

Sinn Fein TD Caoimhghin O Caolain has said that he will be visiting the Sellafield nuclear plant at the end of the month to demand its closure by British Nuclear Fuels and the British government. The Cavan/Monaghan TD, speaking on Tuesday at a debate on Sellafield in University College Dublin, slammed British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) on the latest revelations about safety in the Sellafield complex.

In his remarks, O Caolain pointed out the latest developments in relation to the British nuclear reprocessing plant:

"Just today, we learned that the Atomic Energy Commission in Britain has confirmed that the decommissioning programme on the original Windscale plant, which preceded the present Sellafield plant, has been stopped due to concern over the risk of fuel spontaneously catching fire.

"The Commission now says that the Windscale decommissioning project which is being carried out by British Nuclear Fuels and Rolls Royce may have to be stopped altogether as the procedures may not be safe and could be potentially disastrous.

"The record of British Nuclear Fuels has been decades of lies and deceit. The latest revelation begs the question - what else is being hidden from the Irish and British public by BNFL and the British government?

"The latest news also comes after the appalling admission earlier this month that the EU has not carried out a safety inspection at Sellafield for eight years. EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom has admitted that the last inspection was made in 1993 and there are no plans for tests in the near future. This is a disgrace and the Irish government must be much more pro-active in opposing Sellafield at EU level. Clearly there are vested pro-nuclear interests in EU states other than Britain who would resist the closure of Sellafield in case it undermined other nuclear plants but we must not fail to confront this lobby."

O Caolain called for unity among all political parties in Ireland on the Sellafield issue. He concluded:

"I would urge a mass public campaign in both Ireland and Britain, spearheaded by the Irish government and the Irish political parties and mobilising people power to have this plant shut down. We must deploy every possible method in this campaign - diplomatic, legal and political. We need to mobilise the wide support the closure demand enjoys within Britain itself.

"I wish the government well in its continuing legal actions. But it cannot and must not rely solely on this approach. Political pressure at national and international level and the deployment of people power is what will close Sellafield. Let us maximise the pressure. Let us send out the demand loud and clear to the British government to decommission its deadly nuclear industry now.

"I will be reiterating these points when I visit Sellafield itself on 28 January as part of a delegation from the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body. I will be making it clear to BNFL and the British government that this plant must be closed and that the Irish people will accept nothing less."

Monday-Tuesday, 25-26 March, 2002

Wexford launches anti-Sellafield badge

A campaign opposing Britain's dangerous nuclear waste treatment program at Sellafield in Cumbria was launched in Wexford's Bull Ring last week on the town's Quayfront. Wexford Sinn Fein Councillor John Dwyer performed the launch, which was followed by a colourful protest with people dressed in decontamination suits carrying mock nuclear waste barrels down Wexford's Main Street and up along the quayfront.

The badge uses the national colours and bears the slogan "SELLAFIELD AMACH - SLAINTE ISTEACH". All proceeds from the sale of the 10,000 badges will go to County Wexford Hospice.

"We wanted to give people from all over the South East the chance to show their opposition to the continuing threat posed by Sellafield to our lives," said Dwyer. "With the recent expansion of Sellafield, the British government and BNFL have shown utter contempt for the lives, safety and health of Irish people by ignoring our wishes and going ahead with expansion instead of closing this death plant. While there is a real and obvious danger of attack post 11 September and the nightmare scenario that this would lead to, we must not forget that we also have two million gallons of radioactive water being pumped into the Irish Sea daily and BNFL has an atrocious safety record. In addition, there is the abnormally high incidence of cancer, which many believe may be linked to Sellafield. Here in Wexford, we all know someone or some family affected. That is why all proceeds from the sale of these high quality badges will go to County Wexford Hospice.

"This is not a party political issue. The death sentence represented by Sellafield doesn't respect borders. We must all unite, regardless of affiliation, to have Sellafield shut down. By wearing this badge, Wexford people will not only be raising awareness but will also be assisting a worthy local charity which all too often deals with those dying from cancer.

"We in Sinn Fein are calling on the government to join with others in forming an international alliance to embarrass and pressurise the British Government. While we must think globally but act locally, I am calling on Wexford County Council to write to the Environment Ministries in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway to solicit their support for a diplomatic campaign to close Sellafield. I firmly believe that building an international alliance can work as Japan are now considering stopping new contracts to Sellafield."

Wednesday-Thursday, 17-18 April, 2002

National campaign to shut Sellafield 'death plant'

The British government has been accused of "overwhelming arrogance" and "willful contempt for the concerns of Irish people" following its refusal to close the Sellafield nuclear plant.

Earlier this month it was revealed that there has been yet another leak at Sellafield with Radioactive Technetium 99 from the 1950s found in groundwater samples beside the complex's main gate. This toxic material, with a half-life of over 200,000 years, is the same substance that has entered the marine food chain in the Irish Sea.

The British Nuclear Installations Inspectorate also revealed for the first time that radioactive material has been found in ground outside the site.

Hundreds of thousands of Irish people are sending postcards to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the head of British Nuclear Fuels Norman Askew and Charles Windsor to mark the 16th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. The campaign, spearheaded by Ali Hewson, is supported by all Ireland's political parties, including Sinn Fein.

"The Irish people are of one on this issue. Sellafield must be closed," said South Dublin Councillor Sean Crowe.

"It is disappointing that Tescos, alone of the major supermarket chains, have refused to stock the postcards. I would urge Irish consumers to use their spending power to send a message to this British multinational.

"I welcome the fact that the Irish government has at long last moved to take legal action against the British government, but it took the further expansion of Sellafield with the decision to build the new MOX reprocessing plant to finally move the establishment here to act.

"Sellafield, aka Windscale, has an atrocious history of leaks, accidents and cover-ups. The British government has behaved arrogantly and irresponsibly and has blatantly ignored the well founded concerns of Irish citizens. There must be no letup in the campaign of Irish people, at all levels of society, against this catastrophic nuclear timebomb on our doorstep."

Friday-Sunday, 26-28 April, 2002

Irish too 'emotive' over Sellafield - British minister

An estimated 1.3 million protest cards demanding the closure of British Nuclear Fuels' Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria have been began arriving at Downing Street.

Another 500,000 are on their way to Prince Charles and the BNFL chief executive, Mr Norman Askew, as part of a high-profile anti-nuclear campaign organised by the Shut Sellafield group.

Bringing their message directly to the British Prime Minister's door on the 16th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Ms Ali Hewson hand-delivered one of the cards, bearing an image of a human eye beside the words: "Tony, look me in the eye and tell me I'm safe". She called on British voters to make the closure of the plant an election issue.

The cards, sent from tens of thousands of Irish households to Britain represented Ireland's deep concern about Sellafield's safety record, Ms Hewson said. "There are millions of people in Britain who live as close to Sellafield as we do, and the risks are great," she said.

"A report commissioned by the European Parliament has said Sellafield has the potential to be 80 times more hazardous than Chernobyl. We are taking all the risks and yet we do not have a say in this."

A Downing Street spokeswoman said No 10 received thousands of letters every day but refused to say how many of the postcards had arrived at Mr Blair's office.

In a statement which angered campaign organisers, the British minister for energy, Brian Wilson, said he recognised genuine concerns expressed by many Irish people "where they had a rational basis".

He described the protest as "generalised and emotive" and said it had ignored the evidence from "reputable scientific sources".

Speaking from Wicklow where he was campaigning with party election candidate Mairead Keane, Mr. McLaughlin described Brian Wilson's comments as "grossly offensive".

Mr. McLaughlin said the postcard protests were a "powerful expression of the concerns of the Irish people regarding Sellafield and it is highly arrogant of Brian Wilson to summarily dismiss our concerns.

"Sellafield is a most serious and immediate danger to all the people of Ireland and Britain - a potential Chernobyl in our midst. It has an appealing safety record and British Nuclear Fuels Limited has repeatedly lied and deceived about the safety of the plant".

Mr McLaughlin took the opportunity to call for a united effort by people on both sides of the Irish Sea to have Sellafield shut down.

"This plant endangers the lives of people in Britain as much as in Ireland. We must deploy people power to get rid of Sellafield."

Tuesday-Wednesday, 20-21 August, 2002

Nuclear cargo endangering Irish health and safety

Sinn Fein spokesperson on the Environment, Arthur Morgan TD, has accused British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) of "wantonly endangering the health and safety of Irish people" with its decision to press ahead with the transportation of nuclear materials through the Irish Sea to its Sellafield plant.

The County Louth deputy made his comments after reports that the cargo ships en route from Japan were now off the coast of Africa and due in the Irish Sea by the end of the month.

"The decision to transport these extremely radioactive and hazardous materials back and forth almost three quarters of the way around the globe is a reckless and unnecessary act," he said. "There is no such thing as being 100% safe. Remember, the Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable. BNFL is wantonly endangering the health and safety of not only Irish people but also people living on the west coast of Britain by shipping this cargo through the busy Irish Sea.

"I would again appeal to the Irish government to step up the pressure to have the Sellafield processing plant closed down."

Sunday-Tuesday, 1-3 September, 2002

Brits bail out nuclear power firms

By Robbie MacGabhann

Inefficient, unprofitable, unmanageable, unplanned, unaccountable and unacceptable. Yes, its just another week in the life of the British nuclear power industry. Another week when Irish lives were endangered and one where the Dublin government, despite their promise of action on Sellafield, were once again silent.

As you read this, two British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) ships, carrying 255 kilos of plutonium, are moving towards Irish territorial waters. They are carrying a plutonium shipment being returned to Sellafield's MOX fuel reprocessing plant because its Japanese buyers refused to unload it after they realised that BNFL workers had falsified safety records when reprocessing the fuel in 1999.

WASTE AT SELLAFIELD

This though, is the last chapter in the week's events. Last weekend, a row broke out within the nuclear industry on where they would store their toxic waste. Robin Jeffrey, chief executive of British Energy (BE), one of the privatised nuclear companies created during the Thatcher years, declared that Sellafield would be the best place to bury nuclear waste.

Currently there are 10,000 tonnes of solid nuclear waste in Britain. This will rise to half a million tonnes as the outdated reactors around Britain are dismantled in the coming decades. Jeffrey believes that burying the waste underground at Sellafield is the "sensible solution".

Plans for underground test sites at Sellafield were abandoned in 1997 when the Conservative government denied planning permission in the run up to the Westminster elections. Chris Murray, managing director of Nirex, the body set up by the British government to oversee the safe disposal of nuclear waste, described Jeffrey's comments as "very unhelpful".

Currently, the British government is involved in a consultation period that will run to 2007. The aim of this is to win public support for whatever disposal option is chosen. Jeffrey thinks the consultation period is too long and work should start again at Sellafield.

It didn't end there for BE; they were having a busy week and stayed in the news on Monday with calls for reform of the British electricity market pricing agreements.

#493 MILLION LOSSES

In March 2001, Ofgem, the British electricity regulator, introduced New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA), the aim of which was to make the power market in Britain more competitive. Now, falling electricity prices are making BE's nuclear power plants unprofitable. Prices in the wholesale market have fallen by 30%. BE produces 25% of British electricity and lost #493 million in the first 12 months of the new, more competitive price regime.

Ofgem believes that "this is a commercial market and, as in all markets, companies will fail". BE needn't have worried, a knight in shining armour was on its way. Enter Labour Energy minister Brian Wilson. On Monday he said that "we need to address the unfortunate reality that British Energy can't get a price for its product that's reasonable". When BE was privatised it was made up of ten of the most modern nuclear reactors in Britain to make it commercially attractive to the private sector.

BAILOUT

On Tuesday, the white knight began to deliver. BE would take over the running of BNFL's Magnox reactors. These six oldest plants are due to be decommissioned in 2010.

BE's share prices jumped 28% on the day as Energy minister Brian Wilson also raised the prospect of changing the market agreement which had allowed electricity prices to fall. Wilson has to be careful, as increases in prices to the customer would be difficult for New Labour to justify.

Instead, BE is to be helped by the management fee for running the six Magnox reactors which ran up losses of #115 million for BNFL over the last financial year. BE would get paid just to run these unprofitable stations. BE is also looking for a cut in the costs it pays BNFL to reprocess its spent fuel.

This is interesting, because BNFL has never made a profit from its THORP or MOX reprocessing facilities. Reducing what BE are charged will make state-owned BNFL even more unprofitable. So in the end, the ordinary householder is footing the bill through taxes.

NUCLEAR FAILURES

Sinn Fein TD and Environment spokesperson Arthur Morgan described the BE situation and the British government proposals as "proof that the British government have no intention of recognising the failures of their nuclear power project".

The fact that no buyers can be found for BNFL and that BE had to be bailed out just six years after privatisation and 15 months of a competitive power market showed that nuclear power was not "a viable economic power generation strategy".

The Louth TD said the BE proposal to build nuclear waste storage facilities underground at Sellafield was "horrifying".

"It is bad enough that the British nuclear power industry is clearly uneconomic, unprofitable and sucking resources into short term subsidies that should be invested in long term strategies to develop power using renewable resources. When you also include a deplorable safety record and an inability to plan long term, you have a series of crises.

"The nuclear power industry in Britain, whether it is BE or BNFL, is uneconomic and unsafe. The Irish government must call on the British government to shut down not just Sellafield's reprocessing plants and generators, but begin a real long-term plan to replace the nuclear reactors with renewable energy generation plants.

"Also crucially important is the need to be vocal and vigilant against any proposals to store waste underground at Sellafield. It is already Europe's largest site for nuclear waste, and in December 1998 was found by the British Health and Safety Authority to be in danger of leaking. We can't trust BNFL to safely store the waste it has now. How can we possibly depend on them to save 50 times that amount of waste?"

For now the subsidies, bailouts and accidents are set to continue.

Thursday-Friday, 12-13 September, 2002

Rainbow Warrior protests nuclear 'time bomb'

The Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior, is leading a flotilla of vessels in a protest at the arrival into the Irish Sea of two cargo ships carrying nuclear waste.

The cargo vessels are travelling from Japan to the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant on Britain's west coast and are currently approaching Ireland.

The two ships, the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal, are carrying enough plutonium Mox fuel to make 50 nuclear bombs.

British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) has rejected criticism, claiming that the shipment poses no danger.

The company was forced to make arrangements to ship the Mox fuel back to Sellafield after Japanese authorities discovered in 1999 that safety records had been falsified

The Rainbow Warrior, which has been docked for the past fortnight on the River Liffey at Sir John Rogerson's Quay in Dublin, was accompanied by five other vessels when it set sail yesterday.

The flotilla, which includes boats from Dublin and Arklow, plans to be in a position to protest when the BNFL ships enter the Irish Sea.

Sinn Fein environment spokesman Arthur Morgan has joined the protest flotilla of small boats.

He said he hoped the protest at sea "would add a new dimension to the ongoing efforts to have, not only these shipments stopped, but to ultimately have Sellafield shut down".

The County Louth deputy praised the cross-party supportfor the protest.

Tuesday-Wednesday, 17-18 September, 2002

British nuclear chief admits "stupidity" of waste shipment

Two ships laden with enough plutonium for 50 nuclear bombs have arrived at their destination at the Sellafield reprocessing facility on the English west coast, followed all the way by a a protest flotilla headed by the Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior.

They arrived at a BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels Limited) reprocessing plant on the final stage of a two-month, 18,000-mile voyage from Japan.

Vessels with demonstrators on board which shadowed the ship carrying the consignment of plutonium mixed oxide fuel (MOX) were kept back by armed police boats as it sailed into the final stretches of Walney channel in Barrow.

Protesters, including Sinn Fein TD Arthur Morgan, pop star Jim Corr and the Irish MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern, flew banners reading "Stop Plutonium Transport" while the Pacific Pintail docked and unloaded its five-tonne cargo.

More than 100 armed police co-ordinated the security operation with Britain's Defence Ministry in fear of a possible terrorist attack.

The consignment was originally shipped to Japan in 1999 for Kansai Electric Power Company's nuclear generating facility. BNFL was forced to bring it back after admitting quality checks were falsified.

It has cost more than 153 million Euros to return the shipment from the Far East. BNFL has not ruled out sending the consignment back to Japan after it has been recycled.

Sinn Fein spokesperson on the Environment, Arthur Morgan TD, speaking from aboard one of the vessels involved in the anti-nuclear flotilla, called for the organisation of an international alliance of non-nuclear countries, environmentalists and peace activists to step up the campaign to have the global transportation of nuclear fuel ended.

Deputy Morgan said such an alliance would be necessary to bring an end to the extremely dangerous practice of transporting nuclear fuel around the globe by sea.

Speaking from outside the port of Barrow-in-Furness the County Louth Deputy said:

"The Irish Sea protest against the transportation of BNFL's nuclear fuel has served to highlight in a dramatic way the dangers involved in this practice. However these protests in themselves cannot bring it to an end. We need to build an international alliance of non-nuclear countries who will work with national and international environmental and peace groups to make the extremely dangerous practice impossible.

"I would again like to commend all those involved in organising this flotilla and for the massive support they have recieved from communities along both sides of the Irish Sea.

"The Irish government should use the international good will that this protest has generated to initiate dialogue with other non-nuclear countries and environmental groups to establish a broad international coalition against not only the transportation of nuclear fuel but against the industry itself."

The transport of MOX nuclear waste through the Irish Sea has been "incredibly damaging" to the British nuclear industry, the chief executive of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) has admitted.

Speaking after the consignment of plutonium was safely delivered to Sellafield reprocessing plant , Mr Norman Askew said the company could never forget the "stupidity of what had happened".

He said: "This came from a mistake and is something that BNFL and people on this site will never forget."

Tuesday-Wednesday, 22-23 October, 2002

Sellafield under the spotlight again

The last few days have been full of activity and news for anti-nuclear activists and, particularly, for those who have been fighting for years against Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria. On Sunday, 21 October, thousands of people, mostly French, marched through Strasbourg to express their opposition to nuclear energy. On the same day, British National Fuels Ltd (BNFL) announced the retirement of one of the special cargo vessels used in the transport of nuclear fuel from Europe to Japan. Also, thanks to the increased pressure and lobbying of activists, mostly along the East coast of Ireland, the Irish government was forced to take the British government to the European Court to try to gain access to documents related to the production of nuclear fuel MOX at Sellafield.

On Sunday, thousands of people from more than a dozen countries took part in an anti-nuclear protest march in eastern Strasbourg, home to the European Parliament. Demonstrators taking part in the protest formed a human chain, donned gas masks, staged a symbolic "die-in" and blared an alarm signal to evoke the response to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident up to date - an explosion that sent a radioactive cloud across much of Europe, including Ireland.

The march was organised by a French anti-nuclear organisation that claims 650 local associations as members. Activists and politicians from environmentally focused parties across Europe also took part. They want a full accounting of the effects of nuclear energy on the environment and studies into ways of ending reliance on nuclear power and to stop new nuclear power plant programmes.

Most demonstrators were from France, which has 20 nuclear power plants and gets three-quarters of its energy from nuclear power.

A delegation of anti-nuclear activists was to meet on Tuesday 22 October with European Union Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, according to the march's organising body, Reseau Sortir du Nucleaire (Out of Nuclear Network).

On the same day, British Nuclear Fuels announced the retirement from service of the nuclear cargo vessel Pacific Crane, with the loss of 30 jobs. The company said the ship "had come to the end of its working life". Built in 1980 by Swan Hunter at Hebburn, the Pacific Crane is the second oldest (Pacific Swan 1979) of the five-strong nuclear fleet owned by Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL) and has just returned to her registered port of Barrow-in-Furness having delivered a cargo of Japanese research reactor fuel to the United States.

The ship gained international notoriety on a number of occasions over the last decade, the best recorded being her re-flagging and re-naming as the Akatsuki Maru in 1992 for a shipment of more than a ton of plutonium powder from the French reprocessing plant at La Hague to Japan. Labelled at the time by the Daily Mirror newspaper as The Doomsday Ship, the converted Akatsuki Maru with Japanese security guards on board was escorted from France to Japan by the armed Japanese coastguard cutter Shikishima as protection against possible attack.

Most recently, the Pacific Crane again became the centre of an international row when details of hull corrosion, found during a Lloyds survey inspection at Greenock, were leaked to Greenpeace. With implications for the state of corrosion in the rest of the fleet, and coinciding with the imminent departure from Japan of PNTL's two armed MOX ships, Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal, BNFL confirmed the corrosion to the Pacific Crane but strenuously denied a similar finding in other ships.

It was just after the announcement that, on Monday 21 October, the 26-County government was finally forced to take the British administration to a tribunal in The Hague to try and gain access to classified documents relating to Sellafield's MOX plant. The Irish move is down to years of protesting, campaigning and lobbying of Irish people against government complacency towards the health hazard that is Sellafield nuclear station. The Dublin government is seeking disclosure of two key reports commissioned by the British government on the economic and environmental aspects of the Cumbrian plant. These documents were prepared before the British authorities approved the plant for reprocessing mixed oxide fuel (MOX) from nuclear reactors. The Irish case argues for access to additional information that was withheld because the British claimed it contained commercially sensitive information.

Hearings at The Hague are expected to last around a week, but there may not be a final decision for a number of months.

The decision of The Hague tribunal is of special importance after it was revealed that BNFL is planning to carry on with its plan to supply MOX fuel to European customers without bothering to take into account any safety/security measures that the special cargo would require. Whilst majority shareholders in PNTL, BNFL are full owners of two further ships, the European Shearwater and the Atlantic Osprey. The former is used mainly for transporting spent fuel from European reactors for reprocessing at Sellafield. The Atlantic Osprey, bought second-hand in 2001 from a German company, is a roll-on roll-off cargo vessel and BNFL confirmed that she will be used to transport MOX fuel from the new Sellafield MOX plant to European customers.

In a departure from procedures for MOX shipments to Japan (two escorted armed ships), the unarmed Atlantic Osprey will travel alone and will leave from the port of Workington in West Cumbria rather than from BNFL's dedicated marine terminal at Barrow. A number of other safety/security features afforded to the Japanese MOX ships are absent in the Atlantic Osprey, which suffered a disabling engine room fire earlier this year when exiting the Manchester ship canal for sea trials.

Sellafield, formally known as Windscale, home of the 1957 reactor fire, lies on the Irish Sea coast. In an area of just one mile by one mile and a half, the site hosts the lethal legacies of nuclear weapons material production, decades of commercial reprocessing residues - and the reputation to go with them. With faltering nuclear prospects at home, BNFL is turning to other countries for expansion with claims of expertise. However, the company's record does not make this "expertise" very recommendable.

In the area of reprocessing, Sellafield hosts B205 Magnox and Thorp plants, responsible for nuclear discharges and gross contamination of the Irish Sea, which have failed to meet their ten-year target of producing 7,000 tonnes of reprocessed material. Sellafield also hosts two plants dedicated to MOX production: the demonstration facility (MDF) produces 8 tonnes MOX fuel per year since 1993 for Europe and Japan; and the new 120t plant (SMP), not yet licensed to operate due to concerns on justification and viability.

It is worth noting that no British nuclear plant uses MOX fuel and after the Japanese "scandal", when it was discovered that Sellafield safety certificates had been falsified after safety measures were ignored, there are no overseas contracts in prospect.

Thursday-Sunday, 18-21 October, 2001

Sellafield blast could kill a million - report

An unpublished report by the European Union has found that an accident at the Sellafield nuclear plant on the English west coast would result in the deaths of up to one million people in Ireland, England and abroad,

The damning report also finds hat the operation of Sellafield has breached European and international agreements, and poses a major safety and health risk.

The report, commissioned by the scientific and technical sub-committee of the European Parliament, looked at the possibility of a huge release of radioactive material by accident or terrorist attack. It reported that an incident such as an aircraft crashing into waste tanks at the site could cause an accident far greatyer than Chernobyl, releasing 40 times the amount of radioactive material and leading to the deaths of one million people globally.

It is thought one of the planes hijacked in the US on September 11 may have been targeted for the destruction of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. There is growing concern in Ireland that a similar attack on Sellafield could spell doom for Ireland's east coast, just miles across the Irish sea from Sellafield. Britain has responded to Irish concerns by expanding nuclear reprocessing at the plant with a mixed oxide (MOX) fuel unit.

Speaking on Saturday at a major conference organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in London, Sinn Fein TD Caoimhghin O Caolain called for a campaign of 'people power' on both sides of the Irish Sea to demand the closure of the Sellafield nuclear plant. The TD said:

"Sellafield is a most serious and immediate danger to all the people of Ireland and Britain - a potential Chernobyl in our midst. When he approved the decision to open a MOX (mixed oxide fuel) plant at Sellafield earlier this month [British] Prime Minister Tony Blair was guilty of an act of bad faith and disregard for the Irish people on a par with anything done by his predecessors in the long and sorry history of Anglo-Irish relations.

"The demand for the complete closure of Sellafield is now growing as people realise the threat posed to all of us by an attack on the plant similar to September 11th. That is a real danger.

"But if September 11th had never happened Sellafield should still be closed down. It has turned the Irish Sea into the most nuclear-polluted stretch of water in the world. British Nuclear Fuels Limited has repeatedly lied and deceived about the safety of the plant. In July 1999 they sent a cargo of MOX fuel to Japan and falsified quality control standards, resulting in the rejection of the cargo by the Japanese government. That cargo is to return to these islands within months, destined for Sellafield.

"I take this opportunity to call for a united effort by people on both sides of the Irish Sea to have Sellafield shut down. This plant endangers the lives of people in Britain as much as in Ireland. We must deploy people power to get rid of Sellafield. Our message to Tony Blair must be loud and clear: "Decommission your dirty and deadly nuclear industry now!"

The Sinn Fein TD also supported calls at the conference for the British and US government to heed the appeals of international aid agencies and end the bombardment of Afghanistan so that humanitarian relief can reach millions of people now threatened with starvation

Friday-Monday, 30 November-3 December, 2001

Sellafield setback but Irish protests to continue

The Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has rejected an attempt by the Dublin government to stop the expansion of Britain's nuclear waste retreatment plant at Sellafield.

In its ruling, the Tribunal has allowed the British government to go-ahead with the production of mixed oxide (MOX) at the plant under condition that it provides detailed plans on how it intends to monitor the risks and effects of the operation on the environment.

The British government must also provide by December 17th a list of measures it will take to prevent pollution of the Irish sea.

The Sellafield plant, just sixty miles from Dublin across the Irish Sea, is notorious for a series of accidents, radioactive discharges and fraudulent paperwork. The Irish Sea is already the most radioactive in the world, while a major incident at Sellafield could spell doom for Ireland, according to a recent European study.

The case at the tribunal, which lasted three days and began on November 19th was taken by the Attorney General Mr Michael McDowell to try and prevent the MOX fuel-production plant at Sellafield from starting work later this month.

The new plant, operated by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), is designed to mix plutonium with uranium oxides to form a nuclear fuel to be burnt in reactors. In October, the British government gave the the go-ahead to open the plant because it said the economic case for opening outweighed social and environmental disadvantages.

Legal representatives of the Irish government said the reopening of the plant constitutes a contravention by Britain of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. They were seeking to stop international movements of radioactive materials associated with the MOX plant in and around the Irish Sea.

The State had also asked the Hamburg-based tribunal to order an immediate suspension of the MOX plant's authorisation and international transport, pending a decision from an international arbitration tribunal it wants set up to resolve the dispute.

Sinn Fein Environmental spokesperson Councillor Arthur Morgan today said that people were disappointed at the outcome of the case.

"This is not the result that the Irish people wanted to hear and I would call on the government to continue the campaign to prevent the opening of the MOX plant and the closure of Sellafield itself."

Councillor Morgan said:

"While aspects of the ruling were positive there will be disappointment that the government were not successful in their attempt to prevent the opening of the MOX plant at Sellafield.

"People living along Ireland's East Coast will not be reassured that the British government must now provide measures to prevent pollution of the Irish sea, given their record in relation to Sellafield Nuclear Plant.

"Only last week we had the damning indictment of Sellafield with the EU Commission admitting that it is not in a position to guarantee that basic safety standards are respected at the plant.

He called on the government to honour a previous election commitment to fund the case being taken by the four individuals from County Louth in relation to disease blamed on Sellafield pollution.

"This is a case which is winnable and is only being only held up due to funding," said Morgan.

Damning European report on Britain's nuclear time-bomb

Sinn Fein Louth County Councillor ARTHUR MORGAN says the findings of a new European Union report into Sellafield are a damning indictment of the plant.

The report was commissioned by the European Parliament Directory General for Research Scientific & Technological Option Assessment (STOA) Programme.

One of the most shocking findings of this report is that the EU Commission is not in a position to guarantee that basic safety standards are respected at Sellafield.

This is the most damning report ever produced on the operation of the Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing plant. It challenges the economic activities of the reprocessing industry as well as the extremely casual approach of the EU Commission towards its duty to "verify" activities at Sellafield. The main reason cited for the EU`s neglect of its obligation is 'budgetary' shortfalls.

One of the Report's conclusions states: 'The Member States UK and France apparently have not complied with Article 34 of the Euratom Treaty, since they have never requested the European Commission's opinion under the Article concerning any of their activities at Sellafield and La Hague... The Commission's verification activities make ineffective use of its control rights over monitoring equipment. Statements by the Commission on monitoring at Sellafield and La Hague are not backed up by credible data.'

The Report also states that the Commission is not in a position to guarantee that the 'Basic Safety Standards' are respected at these plants. Directives from the Commission that could close down a bread shop in an instant if it did not comply with safety standards are regularly enforced, yet they are not implemented in an industry that, according to this Report, would cost more than one million lives if a successful attack occurred there.

The danger which Sellafield represents to the people of Ireland cannot be over-stated. For example, there are 21 tanks filled with High Level Liquid Waste (highly radioactive substance). If these were hit by a plane then the result would almost certainly be 100 times greater than that at Chernobyl.

While there have been some reductions of radioactive emissions, others which are much more harmful are on the increase. It is important to remember that increases of releases of key radionuclides from Sellafield in the late 1990s and expected future discharges are inconsistent with obligations under the OSPAR Convention.

The authors examined all of the data available relating to the high incidence of childhood leukemia in Seascale, a village close to Sellafield. On average, the rate is approximately eight times higher than what would be expected, compared to Britain's national average.

The Report concludes: 'The cause or combination of causes of the observed leukaemia increases are not known. Many uncertainties remain. Radiation exposure due to radionuclide releases from Sellafield cannot be excluded as a cause for the observed health effects.'

Much of this evidence could have been uncovered long ago, if our MEPs had conducted even cursory research in the EU Parliament. But perhaps this is the time to put such recriminations aside and focus on the real problem - the need to shut Sellafield.

Recently, my colleague Caoimhghin O Caolain TD wrote to all party leaders suggesting a broad-based group be established, embracing members of all parties and environment groups to fight this killer plant together. There is still time for such a united approach, indeed, it has never been more essential than at present."

No one group will have all the answers; no one group will win this battle alone. This report offers the opportunity to do a real service for our people if we work together.

Thursday-Sunday, 20-23 December, 2001

Irish protest as hazardous nuclear plant begins operations

Under the cover of darkness on Thursday, the first plutonium was introduced to the controversial MOX (Mixed Oxide) facility at the Sellafield nuclear plant on the west coast of England. Five years after the completion of the plant, the arrival of plutonium marked the beginning of a phased process of commissioning.

About 70 Irish demonstrators gathered outside the gates of the Sellafield complex yesterday to protest after British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL), the operators of Sellafield, confirmed it had started the new MOX operations.

The Irish government, as well as environmental groups, had taken legal action to try to prevent the start-up, which will further pollute the Irish Sea and increase the threat to Ireland's densely populated east coast.

The plant was completed in 1996 but permission for commercial operation was withheld. Now it will produce nuclear fuel from reprocessed uranium and plutonium.

Environmental concerns and plant safety meant the scheme was mothballed for the past five years. The decision to give the plant the go-ahead now has sparked a number of legal challenges by the Irish government and environmental campaigners.

On November 15 Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth lost their high court bid in London to prevent the plant going ahead. The groups later took the case to the appeal court.

Four days later the Irish government told an international tribunal that harmful, noxious, and persistent substances would be discharged into the Irish Sea if the facility was formally commissioned.

However, judges at the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled, "the urgency of the situation did not require the prescription of the provisional measures as requested by Ireland".

Sinn Fein Louth County Councillor, Arthur Morgan said hbe was disappointed by the extension of processing at Sellafield.

"What we need now is determination to unite against this monster that has been killing our people for decades.

"With the Nordic countries now coming on board - especially Norway - there is an opportunity to launch an international campaign to expose Britain as the dirty man who is destroying our environment."

"I am encouraged by the number of politicians who are speaking out against Sellafield. But words are not enough. The Government should immediately fund the case against Thorp [the controversial reprocessing facility, also at Sellafield] being taken by four individuals from County Louth and should work at a European level to build the international campaign necessary to have Sellafield closed once and for all."

"The people of County Louth and the east coast have suffered enough as a consequence of Sellafield's operations.