The nuclear plant at Sellafield is a real and present danger to life in the post 9/11 climate, the Government warned tonight.
The proposed sale of the clean up operations of the state-owned company British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), which operates the huge plant in Cumbria, has raised fresh concerns across the Irish Sea.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said the nuclear disasters at Windscale, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl showed the destructive potential of nuclear power.
"Sellafield remains a real and present danger to life on this island, a danger which has deepened post 9/11," he said.
The British Government has set up the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which will take over BNFL's assets and liabilities. The European Commission last week approved the decision, which clears the way for BNFL to sell off its £1 billion sterling clean-up business, British Nuclear Group, to private companies in the next 18 months.
At a special debate in the Dail, The Minister for the Environment Dick Roche said he considered the NDA to be fundamentally compromised because it relied on income from reprocessing to fund its clean-up of Sellafield and other sites.
"I wish to stress here that the Government will continue to hold the UK responsible and accountable for the operation of the Sellafield complex," he said.
The Irish Government is awaiting a final decision from the European Court of Justice to see if it can resume international legal action against the British government over Sellafield.
"We will continue to pursue all legal and diplomatic options to secure its safe and early closure," said Mr Roche.
Labour Party TD Emmet Stagg said the storage tanks at Sellafield, which contained radioactive material, were the greatest threat to the Irish people. He said there had been a history of accidents and radioactive discharges at the plant.
"Practically all of these have been handled with deceit and cover-up by the British authorities," he said.