Britain may significantly reduce Sellafield radioactive discharges

There are growing indications that the British government will adopt measures to significantly reduce radioactive discharges into the sea from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing facility when the OSPAR commission meets in Portugal this week.

Such is the extent of the reduction being considered by the UK administration that if applied immediately it would force the closure of Sellafield. However, the Environment Secretary, Mr Michael Meacher, is likely to push for a phased reduction of discharges when the 15 member-states, including Ireland, meet at Sintra.

The commission on marine pollution is having its first ministerial meeting tomorrow since the OSPAR convention on the northeast Atlantic came into force in March.

At a briefing on Friday, Mr Meacher said his government was prepared to consider closing the Sellafield plant, although this was not the preferred option. This was in the face of an inability at present to achieve "zero discharges", which is being demanded by Ireland and Nordic countries in response to more evidence of radioactive Technetium-99 (Tc99) from Sellafield on their shores.

This caused "premature media reports" that Sellafield was to close, a spokesman for Mr Meacher told The Irish Times yesterday. He confirmed, however, that Labour was committed to reducing radioactive discharges, and the British stance at Sintra would reflect this. "How far we go down that line next Wednesday and Thursday is part of the negotiations."

Two key proposals before the commission are a move to "close to zero [discharges] for man-made radioactive substances", which Ireland and Nordic countries are seeking, and, secondly, a target of cessation by 2020.

The spokesman said Mr Meacher favoured a move in the next 20 years to bring discharges as near as possible to "background levels" of radioactivity, but this was not in the form of a proposal.

Officially, the UK is resisting the Irish proposal, but Mr Meacher has agreed to meet the Minister of State for Public Enterprise, Mr Joe Jacob, in Lisbon before the formal meeting tomorrow.

"This meeting is with a view to discussing the text proposed by Ireland. We hope that it will be productive," Mr Jacob said.

Mr Jacob, who has responsibility for Irish nuclear policy, denied that Ireland was simply seeking curtailments of Tc-99. He insisted the Irish position was broadly based; seeking radioactive reductions but citing Tc-99 increases from the plant since 1994.

A leak last week which halted reprocessing came at the worst possible time for Sellafield. A British Nuclear Fuels Ltd spokesman said it was working to reduce discharges. It had had notable success with laboratory tests on reducing Tc-99 but it could be some years before they would be fully adopted. The Sellafield operation "could live with a demand that radiation exposure be reduced to near background levels by 2020".

The French government is also considering a possible future where discharges are curtailed and has looked at the technical options for zero discharges, if applied to its La Hague reprocessing facility.

Stop Thorp Alliance Dundalk, which is mounting a legal challenge against Thorp nuclear installation at Sellafield, has expressed disappointment at the Irish position. It said calling for a reduction of Tc-99 "falls short of the position the Irish people want; one of implacable opposition to all radioactive discharges".

The Irish stance weakened the proposals adopted by Nordic countries. This was happening "despite Ireland being the country closest to Sellafield".