Sellafield, Concern over safety records
Iceland says that it is disappointed by the length of time it's taking Britain to reduce radioactive emissions from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria. Iceland was speaking on behalf of five Nordic nations. A Swiss power plant is to send a team to Sellafield to check whether nuclear fuel rods it buys there are safe
The Five Nordic countries expressed grave concern about the complex in the wake of last week's report which showed that records for fuel rods had been falsified. For years, Ireland and Scandinavian countries have complained that the waste pipeline from Sellafield causes radioactive contamination that can be traced in shellfish, although only at low levels, in their own waters.
Concerns have been heightened by last week's revelations that documentation regarding safety procedures at the plant had been falsified and yesterdays decision by a German based plant to shut down, so that fuel rods supplied by BNFL could be removed. The German Green Environment Minister, Juergen Trittin, has also indicated that he is reviewing whether or not to terminate his country's reprocessing contracts with Sellafield. Ireland's Minister of State, Joe Jacob, has asked the Attorney General to re-examine the possibility of legal action by the state against BNFL over its repeated breaches of safety standards.
