Green Party: EPA Sellafield report gives ‘clear picture of the risks Ireland faces from UK nuclear power’
8th December 2016
The Green Party today welcomed the publication of the EPA report into the potential health implications of an incident at Sellafield.
Speaking today, Green Party Councillor David Healey said: “Together with the ESRI report released recently, the EPA report forms a clear picture of the risks to Ireland from UK nuclear power.
“Assuming maximum mitigation steps are taken by the Irish authorities, the overall message is that health impacts in the Irish population can be avoided if rapid and determined steps are taken to prevent contaminated foodstuffs from entering the food supply. The economic impacts of these measures on agriculture and tourism will be significant and, in worst-case scenarios, devastating.
“The Government should be addressing this risk at all levels and stages by:
- Engaging with the UK government in relation to the new nuclear power plant programme, existing nuclear power plants and operations at Sellafield with a view to preventing any new sources of risk and minimising existing sources. It seems that Minister Naughten and the Government are following the line that the UK's decisions are its own concern and ignoring the potential impacts on Ireland.
- Ensure that the UK government consults with the public in Ireland. The Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context entitles the Irish public to participate in the environmental impact assessment of UK nuclear plants. The Implementation Committee of the Convention investigated the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in response to complaints from a German Green Party Bundestag member and Friends of the Irish Environment. It found that the UK was in breach of its obligations to consult the affected public in other countries, including Ireland. Unlike the governments of Austria, Norway and the Netherlands, the Irish Government failed to defend the right of the Irish public to participate in the environmental impact assessment of the proposed nuclear plant in responding to questions from the Committee. (1)
- Ensure adequate information is available to enable effective avoidance measures to be taken in the event of an accident affecting Ireland. Poor quality information and inaccurate information has been a feature of every major nuclear accident, whether in USA, USSR or Japan. Bad information has been a consistent feature of Sellafield's operations also. The Irish government must ensure as best it can that the information which it would need to respond correctly to an emergency is available to it.
- Update the National Emergency Plan for Nuclear Accidents, a very general plan dating from 2005
Further information:
- https://www.unece.org/environmental-policy/conventions/environmental-assessment/areas-of-work/review-of-compliance/committee-initiative/eiaicci5-united-kingdom.html