The European Commission has issued a warning to the Sellafield nuclear plant over inadequate accounting and reporting of its nuclear material, reports Judith Crosbie in Brussels.
A spokesman for the commission said the present accounting system meant the commission could not be sure as to exactly what was happening at any given time at the plant in Cumbria regarding the nuclear material. He said the problems included Commission inspectors not being able to carry out their work properly to assess the plant, technical characteristics being changed without informing the commission and the accounting system not being up to date. "The system is not good," he added.
The warning does not concern safety issues at Sellafield but seeks to ensure that the nuclear material at the plant is not being employed for a different use than it was originally intended, the spokesman said.
The commission issued the warning after Sellafield breached certain provisions of the Euratom Treaty, which requires the commission to guard against nuclear materials intended principally for civilian use being diverted for military use.
Sellafield has been asked to take necessary measures to address the concerns within four months. After that the nuclear plant has six months to prove the measures are in place and working.
A commission statement said it did not find "that nuclear material was actually lost or diverted from its intended purpose and does not concern the issue of nuclear safety".
Sellafield said yesterday the commission had as yet not informed it of the warning and "disappointedly" it could therefore not comment specifically on the commission's criticisms. The statement added: "British Nuclear Group is fully focused on nuclear material accountancy and safeguards matters at Sellafield and we work closely with the EC's Euratom inspectors on these matters."
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche said he shared "the Commission's concerns in this regard". "Last month I met with Commissioners Andris Piebalgs [ Energy Commissioner] and Franco Frattini [ Justice Commissioner], in Brussels, during which I articulated Ireland's concerns in relation to safety standards at the Sellafield facility in a forthright manner," Mr Roche said in a statement.
Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa said he welcomed the warning but that the Energy Commissioner should do more regarding previous Sellafield breaches. Mr De Rossa criticised the length of time it was taking the commission to follow through on proceedings started in 2004 when it decided to refer the UK to the European Court of Justice. The case then specifically centred on accounting of and access to a concrete pond at Sellafield that stores radioactive waste under water.
"If the commission still hasn't executed its September 2004 decision to refer Britain to the ECJ [ European Court of Justice] over Sellafield, then today's warning is just another example of the Energy Commissioner's prevarication on the Sellafield danger," he said.
A more recent case involving Sellafield last month at EU level centred on an opinion by an adviser to the European Court of Justice which said that Ireland had no right to take the UK case to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The court is likely to follow the recommendation and find that Ireland should have pursued its case against Britain at the European court instead. The opinion added that the Government should have consulted the EU institutions before taking its action.