Green Party supports call from owners of Sellafield for plant to close permanently

The NDA wants the main reprocessing facility to shut permanently according to weekend reports in the British media. Only last week it was revealed that twenty tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel had leaked on April 19 this year,and that it had caused the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) at Sellafield to close.

Deputy Cuffe continued, “The huge leak which occurred in April – large enough to fill a swimming pool – underlined once again the danger Sellafield presents to Ireland. The Thorp facility has closed – and is likely to remain closed for months – as a result.”

“There are absolutely no reasons for this dangerous plant to reopen. It is uneconomical – NDA officials have indicated that when operational the plant does not make money. The NDA incurs huge costs from Sellafield - the forecast for 2005-6 is £727.4m. Keeping Thorp closed also means the decommissioning process can start on it immediately.”

“At a time when the Labour government in Britain is trailing proposals to build new plants, the problems at Sellafield only underline the trans-national consequences of such decisions.”

“The Green Party is calling for the Irish Government to do everything it can to speed up the long overdue closure of this unsafe plant. The sooner Sellafield closes the better for Ireland,” concluded deputy Cuffe.

This leak is just one of the issues that Deputy Cuffe and Green Party Leader Trevor Sargent TD will be taking up later this month when they visit the WYLFA nuclear plant near Holyhead in Wales.