22^nd May 2003

PRESS RELEASE 

GREENS CALL FOR GOVERNMENT ACTION ON SELLAFIELD

The Green Party today called on the Irish Government to take action in relation to the
high discharges of Technetium 99 from the British Nuclear Fuels Plant at
Sellafield.
 
Green Party Environment spokesperson, Ciarán Cuffe TD, said today, “British Nuclear Fuels are making money out of polluting the Irish Sea.  BNFL's processing of nuclear waste continues to allow radioactive Technetium to pollute the Irish Sea. They are using nineteenth century technology on a twenty-first century problem. The Enhanced Actinide Removal Plant (EARP) at Sellafield is ineffective at removing Technetium 99 from the waste pipe. This is an unsatisfactory scientific approach.”

“Radioactive discharges into the Irish Sea threatens the marketing of Irish
seafood, and we want to see a new approach to cleaning up radioactive waste,
rather than pouring it out into the Irish Sea.”

“According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the OSPAR
Convention, BNFL should use different purification methods at the Sellafield plant, so that the level of pollution is reduced. Technetium discharges shot up during the 1990's and continue to be at historically high levels. We want to see cleaner technology being used.”

“Last Week the Norwegian Minister for the Environment Mr Børge Brende met with
his British counterpart Mr Michael Meacher to seek action on Sellafield discharges. We want to know what the Irish Minister for the Environment Martin Cullen TD is doing about the issue.”

ENDS