British Nuclear Fuels Ltd has challenged the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland to publish its views on the safety of nuclear storage tanks at Sellafield.
The RPII visited the plant last July at BNFL's invitation but the institute said yesterday that BNFL had been "unwilling" to release enough information for it to assess the safety of the tanks. BNFL's call follows criticisms made earlier this week by a US specialist who questioned the safety of storage tanks at Sellafield which hold high-level radioactive waste.
"The only body in Ireland qualified to address public concerns about the safety of highly-active liquid storage and the risk of an explosion is the Irish Government's scientific advisory body, the RPII, who have examined the system at Sellafield," according to a BNFL statement.
The institute in a statement said that the purpose of the July visit was "for the purpose of familiarisation with physical features of the installations and to seek detailed technical information about the safety of its plant".
The RPII claimed, however, that "in view of the continuing unwillingness of BNFL to release detailed technical information on the safety of the highly-active waste storage tanks, the visit could not have provided the basis for a critical assessment of the risk of a major accident involving the storage tanks".
A BNFL spokesman yesterday expressed astonishment at the RPII claim. "Subsequent to their visit to Sellafield, we received a letter dated July 22nd, 1997, expressing satisfaction with the visit," according to Mr Peter Osborne.
He said there was "no indication whatsoever" that the RPII group had been refused access to information during its visit. "We are in possession of a letter in which they said: `We were impressed with what we saw'," Mr Osborne claimed.
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