Acidents involving the transport of radioactive material have doubled in Britain over the past decade, according to the Green Party.
The party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent TD, said a new British government report showed there were 38 reported accidents involving the movement of radioactive materials by rail, road and air in Britain during the year 2000.
The report, produced for the government by the National Radiological Protection Board, showed the figure for similar incidents in 1990 was 19.
"In 2000 there were a derailment, a road crash and a theft, while shipping documents were incorrect or absent in seven cases," Mr Sargent said.
He described the increase in the accident rate as "shocking".
This was especially so, he said, as the revelation came as plans were being announced for the shipment of 40 tonnes of volatile nuclear waste from the Dounreay nuclear power plant in Scotland to the reprocessing facility at Sellafield.
Mr Sargent called on the British Atomic Energy Authority to drop the plan and develop waste dry-storage facilities at Dounreay instead.
"Reprocessing is a bad way of dealing with this nuclear waste. As soon as the reprocessing starts, it will increase emissions into the air and into the Irish Sea," he said.
The waste was full of plutonium but, because of the risk of terrorist attack, the precise quantities and details of its transportation would be kept secret.
"We are calling on the Irish Government to intervene and insist that this nuclear waste be dry-stored," he said.