Minister briefed by UK authorities about Sellafield leak and alleged cyberattack

Green Party Minister Ossian Smyth was briefed by senior UK government officials days after revelations regarding a leak and alleged cyberattack at the Sellafield nuclear site in England, it has emerged.

The Irish Government and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have downplayed reports regarding a “worsening” silo leak at the facility, saying they have been kept abreast of developments in regular communications with British authorities.

However, Mr Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for cybersecurity, had sought a personal briefing following claims in the Guardian newspaper on December 5th that the UK’s “most hazardous nuclear site” had been hacked by cyber groups closely linked to Russia and China.

Officials at the UK’s department of energy security and net zero told him they had no record of the cyberattack but that such issues were independently regulated.

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“They said the independent regulator [for nuclear safety] says that … although there are shortcomings in their cybersecurity standards, and that they were non-compliant in some areas with the standards that they should have reached, that this had not affected the security of the site and that there was no compromise to the security or safety on the site and that they [the officials] had no record of any incident,” Mr Smyth said.

He said he “can’t assess” whether there was a cybersecurity risk based on his briefing, and that he would need to speak with the nuclear regulator in order to do so, but had no reason to disbelieve the officials.

“I made it clear to them that transparency [on all issues] is absolutely critical in building trust in our democratic obligations to the public and that we certainly take that approach with cybersecurity.”

[ Sellafield leak posed ‘negligible risk’ to Irish public - Environmental Protection Agency ]

[ Sellafield leaks: How alarmed should we be about reports of discharge at nuclear waste plant? ]

The Guardian published a number of reports which prompted members of Ireland’s environmental lobby to question what level of information was known by Irish officials.

An Taisce, the heritage organisation, has called for a joint European Union response that would seek the intervention of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency and other appropriate international action.

Labour TD Ged Nash, whose Co Louth constituency has long harboured anxiety over Sellafield due to its proximity to the Cumbria site, said it was now clear the State has been aware of a leak at the magnox swarf storage silo since it occurred in 2019.

“It is not acceptable that we are only learning of this now and only as a result of a lengthy media investigation. Nobody should fear transparency and full disclosure,” he said.

[ Sellafield nuclear site has leak that could have ‘potentially significant consequences’, Guardian reports ]

[ Government pressed to reveal how much it knew about reported Sellafield leak ]

In a written response to Mr Nash, Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan said the leak issue had been reported on by the UK’s environment agency at the biannual meetings of the UK-Ireland contact group on radiological matters at its most recent meeting in Wexford last November.

It was the position of UK officials, according to Mr Smyth, that some allegations set out in the Guardian reports were “untrue” and based on inside information.

However, regarding the reported leak, the officials said it was a “serious thing” and that information on this was contained in published reports from the UK’s nuclear regulator.

“Their basic line is that it’s a serious issue but that their independent regulator said it is not posing a risk, a health risk or an environmental risk,” he said.

“I asked [the Irish EPA] how do you feel about the risk to the Irish environment and they said that their assessment was that there was no significant risk.”

In a previous statement, a spokeswoman for the EPA said it maintained “active and open” contact with UK authorities and that based on information provided there “is a negligible risk to the Irish public from the leak”.

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