Department studies Sellafield report

The Department of the Environment is studying a British report which claims there are "chronically inadequate" resources to deal with a major emergency at the Sellafield nuclear plant.

The report from the Office for Civil Nuclear Safety (OCNS) states that Britain is not prepared to cope with a terrorist attack on Sellafield and a major nuclear disaster at the plant could cause a cancer epidemic in Britain and Ireland.

Officials at the Department of the Environment said they have only recently received the report and have yet to consider its implications.

"Our position is clear. The bottom line is we want all operations at Sellafield to cease. There are constant meetings with our UK counterparts at official and ministerial level and we will consider the extent to which the content of the report will be drawn into continuing exchanges and will not hesitate to do so where appropriate," a spokesman said.

The British authorities had given assurances that arrangements for ensuring security in the civil nuclear industry were "robust" the spokesman said.

Additional security measures had been put in place since September 2001 and these security arrangements were subject to continual review, he added.