The proposed commissioning of the MOX plant at Sellafield in Britain was an unjustified and reckless expansion of nuclear operations which would turn the Irish Sea into a kitchen sink for the nuclear industry world-wide, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has said.
Addressing the ╙gra Fianna Fβil annual conference at Kinsale, Co Cork, during the weekend, Mr Ahern said the Government was committed to "unremitting" resistance to the plant and would fight it at every possible level.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, was aware of the Irish Government's opposition to the plant, Mr Ahern added, but because of its autonomous nature he appeared unable to intervene in the decision-making process of the British nuclear fuel industry.
"The proposed MOX operation, costing hundreds of millions of pounds, is a life-support unit for an industry that was artificially created to meet Cold War strategic objectives," he said.
The Taoiseach told the conference that the Government was mounting a three-pronged attack against the commissioning of the MOX plant.
A case had already been made in Hamburg under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea which was heard by 21 judges from the international community. If they decided in Ireland's favour, the Government would proceed to a full hearing of its substantive case in the second half of next year. The Hamburg hearing was to seek an immediate injunction preventing the opening of the plant.