Nuclear's green credentials question

Ireland and several other non-nuclear European states have raised concerns that atomic energy is being presented as a solution to global warming.

Environment ministers from Ireland, Iceland, Norway, and Austria said the current debate on nuclear energy seeks to downplay the environmental, waste, proliferation, nuclear liability and safety issues, and seeks to portray nuclear energy as a clean, safe and problem-free response to climate change.

The ministers attended a meeting in Dublin Castle this morning that was hosted by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche and attended by the German parliamentary state secretary.

In a joint statement, the ministers said: "The inherent risks and problems associated with the nuclear energy option remain, and it cannot therefore claim to be a clean alternative to fossil fuel use."

They said the reality remains that, after 50 years of nuclear power, the issue of waste remains "most intractable".

"The specific international liability regimes currently in place for the nuclear industry do not provide full scope compensation for potential damage or injury and provide a hidden subsidy to that industry," the statement added.

Mr Roche said it is important that alternative positions are explored in the nuclear debate.

"While we acknowledge that it is the sovereign right of countries to choose their own mix of energy supplies, we are seriously concerned that nuclear is being put forward as a solution to the climate change problem."

Mr Roche said the issue of trans-boundary risks associated with nuclear energy was examined.

He said there was agreement that safety issues and adverse environmental impacts from radioactive discharges to the sea arising from the Sellafield plant in the United Kingdom were of significant concern and that continued reprocessing operations at the plant are economically and environmentally untenable.

Mr Roche said he and his counterparts - Helen Bjørnøy from Norway, Jónína Bjartmarz from Iceland and Josef Pröll from Austria - agreed that Britain should cease reprocessing operations at Sellafield and devote the necessary resources to the safe decommissioning of the site.

The ministers announced that a further meeting will take place in Vienna in the autumn of 2007.