Britain has come under further pressure today over the operation of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant during a meeting of 15 European environment ministers in northern Germany.
The discussions, under what is called the Oslo-Paris Convention (OSPAR), centred on marine pollution in the north Atlantic.
The final communique of the meeting noted concerns expressed by a number of countries about discharges of radioactive waste `Technetium-99' from Sellafield.
It also noted that the view of these countries, including Ireland, was that 'these discharges should cease immediately'.
The environmental group, Greenpeace, has characterised the communique as significant because it says Britain put forward 'fierce opposition' to any mention of Sellafield but 'was forced to accept the concerns'.
However, the British Government has dismissed Greenpeace's interpretation of the outcome.
A spokesperson said Britain was 'happy' to note the concerns of Ireland and Norway in relation to radioactive discharges into the Irish sea from Sellafield because they were 'aware of them for a long time'.
They pointed out that new research is being undertaken to eliminate discharges and those working on the project were 'quite optimistic' it would work - even though no-one could be certain until it happened.
Other countries putting pressure on Britain were Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The OSPAR meeting comes just days after a UN court instructed Britain to consult Ireland before allowing any new nuclear reprocessing at Sellafield - something Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen said was 'a positive development'.
Britian has announced a nine-month moratorium on discharges of T-99 into the Irish Sea, to see if research can find other ways of dealing with the waste.
