Sir, - Following the tragedy which has befallen the people of Tokaimura the time is now opportune for the Irish Government to put forward amendments to the long out-of-date Euratom treaty which is up for review in 2001.
The treaty should be amended to ensure that full responsibility for nuclear pollution will henceforth rest with the state whence the explosion or spillage originated. Many of us are aware that the Irish Government unsuccessfully attempted to include the problem of radiation from neighbouring countries in a proposed "Energy" chapter for the Amsterdam Treaty. It is significant, however, that no energy chapter appeared in that treaty.
Claims from the British nuclear industry that its particular technology is somehow safer than Japan's can only be regarded as a poor joke. The Sellafield plant is continually polluting the Irish Sea, which has long been recognised as the most radioactive in the world. Despite all of this, Sellafield goes merrily on. The Irish Government must now call for the speedy closure of the Sellafield plant and other UK nuclear stations, particularly along its west coast. This objective can be assisted by amendments to the Euratom treaty in the area of responsibility/culpability as mentioned above as well as by ending the continuing preferential treatment of nuclear power under common EU policy.
However, the Japanese tragedy has demonstrated again that there is no "safe" nuclear technology. It is, therefore, incumbent on the Irish government to demand the quickest and safest dismantling of all existing nuclear stations and their replacement by an alternative and sustainable energy system. This is no longer the farfetched objective it may once have seemed: seven member states of the EU have already given up nuclear power and two others (Sweden and the Netherlands) have decided to withdraw from it. - Yours, etc.,
Billy Fitzpatrick, National Chairperson, Irish CND, Dublin 6.