Executives from Britain's new nuclear decommissioning body held private meetings in Dublin yesterday with the Minister for the Environment and the Oireachtas's environment committee.years but Sellafield
Three officials from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) made their first official visit to meet the Minister, Dick Roche, and to explain the work plans and approach to be taken by the new body.
The officials also met Opposition party spokesmen.
Established by statute in July 2004 and operational since April 1st, 2005, the NDA will oversee the long-term decommissioning of 20 nuclear sites across Britain.
It has already taken over responsibility for all of the British Nuclear Fuel sites linked to Sellafield and is initiating decommissioning programmes for all of the sites under its remit.
The Minister for the Environment later welcomed the meeting with NDA chairman Anthony Cleaver and chief executive Ian Roxburgh.
They were accompanied at the meeting by British ambassador Stuart Eldon and by the NDA's director of stakeholder engagement, Richard Mireski.
The clean-up of the 20 sites would cost up to £56 billion (€80 billion) over as much as 100 years, Sir Anthony told The Irish Times.
"We came to Dublin because we understand the concern of people here. We do see them as an important stakeholder and we are anxious to take your views into account as we go forward," he said.
"We have to achieve the safe and cost-effective decommissioning of the UK's civil nuclear legacy," he said.
"We believe that one of the things we can and should do is accelerate the programme."
The current schedule suggested the old magnox reactor sites could be gone within 25 years but a full clean-up of Sellafield could take 75 years, he said.
The NDA had established a "stakeholders' group" to allow dialogue between the authority and local communities.
Ireland was included in this and officials from the Irish Civil Service would participate in this group, he said.
Mr Roche in a statement said he had reaffirmed the Government's position that "nuclear is a sunset industry" and that "speedy decommissioning is the only way forward".
Opposition politicians Fergus O'Dowd TD and Senator Brian Hayes of Fine Gael and Trevor Sargent leader of the Green Party also held discussions with the NDA officials.
Mr Hayes said afterwards that he hoped there would be "full public engagement" with Irish officials. "People are very sceptical about the whole operation," he said.
Mr Sargent described the NDA as the "benign face of the nuclear industry" in Britain.
"They may well also be the Trojan Horse of the nuclear industry by building a [nuclear storage] repository that gives the industry a new lifeline."