The Green Party MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern said today the Government should move swiftly to counteract claims that the UK is delivering on its commitment to stop polluting the Irish Sea from Sellafield. The claims come in a report from the UK environment agency.
The report recommends that more than three quarters of the limits on aerial discharges and half of the liquid discharge limits from the Sellafield site should be reduced.
"This is actually a covert plan to keep reprocessing at Sellafield going while cutting discharge limits", said Nuala Ahern. "Cutting discharge limits is not the same as cutting the amount of radioactive waste actually released. The actual discharges have been rising in many instances and this is concealed by the announcement that they will reduce the discharge limits."
The proposals in the report also include a modernised authorisation and framework of limits for individual plants. This will enable tighter regulation of radioactive waste disposals and provide the foundations to ensure the environment is protected during the clean up of legacy waste from Sellafield.
"A report now goes to British Ministers for decision-taking and Irish Ministers must immediately step in and demand an end to routine radioactive pollution from reprocessing at Sellafield", said Ms Ahern.
The environment agency’s chief executive Ms Barbara Young said: "These proposals set the foundations for a cleaner future. They enable BNFL to continue to clean up the legacy of waste from Sellafield’s industrial past, within a tighter and more focussed regulatory control framework".
The report also recognised that Sellafield is a major source of radioactive discharges into the environment.