The Government has expressed its disappointment at the size of reductions in discharge limits announced for the British Nuclear Fuels facility at Sellafield.
The Minister of State who has responsibility for nuclear safety, Mr Joe Jacob, said he was particularly disappointed that discharge limits for technetium 99, which has been accumulating in the Irish Sea and along Scandinavian coastlines, were not reduced along the lines he had recommended to UK ministers.
Radioactive discharge limits from the Sellafield nuclear waste plant are to be tightened in plans drawn up by the UK Environment Agency and the British government.
In a House of Commons written reply, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, said the reduction in limits of five of the main radionuclides discharged from Sellafield was part of the government's commitment to implement the Oslo Paris Commission agreement signed last year to reduce nuclear discharges into the seas.
However, in order to treat old nuclear waste stored on site at Sellafield, discharge limits of some radioactive waste will be increased. BNFL, which owns the Sellafield plant, said it would work within the new limits but warned they could place restrictions on its "operational flexibility" and could hinder ongoing programmes, including the cleanup of old waste. Mr Jacob said while he hoped tighter limits would have been set, at least there would be "a fast-track review" of technetium discharges. BNFL insisted the dose that "a heavy seafood consumer" in Ireland would get from current discharges is a tiny fraction of the annual dose received from all sources of radiation. It is also committed to investigating new technology options for the removal of technetium.
Greenpeace condemned the announcement as a "slap in the face" to Ireland and to the governments in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which had raised serious concerns about the amount of nuclear discharge from Sellafield washing up on its shorelines.