France and the US have been asked by the Government for an assurance that a shipment of nuclear waste currently in transit will not pass through Irish waters. Chris Dooley reports.
The weapons-grade plutonium is being shipped from the US to Cherbourg for processing in France into MOX nuclear fuel for use in US nuclear reactors. The shipment arises from an agreement between the US and Russia on the decommissioning of nuclear weapons.
Opposition parties yesterday accused the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, of not doing enough to ensure the cargo did not pass through Irish waters.
Mr Cullen said the shipment was expected to pass through international waters only. He had asked his officials to seek assurances from the US and French governments that it would not enter Irish waters.
He added that Ireland, along with New Zealand, Peru and Chile, had yesterday proposed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that coastal states be provided with detailed information on all movements of nuclear waste.
Given the "possible risk and public concern posed by international nuclear shipments", such information was vital, he said.
"It is necessary for coastal states such as ours to be fully informed regarding such shipments. In doing so, our experts can assess the risk of such shipments and take appropriate measures in relation to emergency preparedness and response should we consider it appropriate."
Labour and Green Party deputies claimed the Minister had not taken sufficient action on the issue. Calling on Mr Cullen to "intervene with the relevant authorities", Labour's spokesman on nuclear safety, Mr Emmet Stagg, said the "lethal cargo" was a nuclear hazard which would have enormous consequences were it to leak or explode.
The Minister, he said, should go to the International Maritime Organisation to use "every international convention on marine safety" to ensure the shipment did not enter Irish waters.
"There is still time to gain concrete assurances about the course of this transportation and those assurances should be found immediately based on existing maritime international law," he said.
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, said the Government should refuse passage of the shipment through Irish waters. It was not the first time that "deadly toxic and nuclear cargoes" had approached Irish waters and the Irish people had been clear in demanding that they be kept "out of Irish limits".
Mr Cullen said the issue of communication on nuclear shipments between nuclear shipping states and non-nuclear coastal states had been a particular issue pursued by Ireland and like-minded states at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Coastal states including Ireland argued that given the risk posed and public concerns in relation to such shipments, it was necessary for coastal states to be fully informed regarding such shipments.
