THE GOVERNMENT is working towards taking legal action against Britain over the potential threat of radioactive contamination of the Irish Sea from plans to provide an underground nuclear waste dump near Sellafield.
This became clear yesterday in the village of Cleator Moor in Cumbria, where an Irish delegation led by the Minister of State for Energy, Mr Emmet Stagg, appeared at a public inquiry into Nirex UK's plans for what could be the first phase of a vast "deep waste repository".
The Government's view that Britain may be in default of its obligations under European and international law was underlined by the presence of a formidable legal team led by Prof Elihu Lauterpacht QC, a highly respected international lawyer, and Mr James Hamilton, head of the Attorney General's office.
Earlier this month, the Department of Energy formally complained to the European Commission that Nirex, a publicly owned nuclear waste disposal company, had failed to comply with the EU directive on environmental impact assessment by not disclosing what alternative sites were examined for the proposed facility.
The complaint refers to "the potential transboundary effects of such a development so near to the Irish coast and centres of population" and says that the dump which Nirex is ultimately planning "would represent a totally unacceptable intrusion into the health, environmental and economic well being of the Irish people".
This approach to Brussels would be the necessary first step in taking a case to the European Court of Justice. In response to questions at a news conference yesterday, Mr Stagg said "We will take it step by step and review the situation when the decision (by the British Environment Secretary, Mr John Gummer) is to hand."
The Minister, whose appearance in Cumbria generated wide media interest and injected new life into the four month old inquiry, said that he regarded the Nirex plan for a "rock characterisation facility" to test geological conditions in the area as a Trojan horse" for the underground nuclear waste dump.
In his opening statement to the inquiry in Cleator Moor town hall an unprecedented intervention by an Irish Minister he made it clear that the Government was seeking a prohibition not only on the construction by Nirex of a waste "repository" but also on "any expansion of the nuclear industry in Britain".
Referring to the Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield, which was sanctioned despite Irish objections, he said it was "a matter of continuing concern to my Government and to the Irish public that this plant has begun operations", because it would result in increased radioactive discharges to the Irish Sea.
"Over the years, there has been a long litany of incidents at Sellafield and at other nuclear installations", he told the presiding inspector, Mr Chris McDonald. "Only last year did we learn of the extent and seriousness of an incident which took place at Wylfa in Anglesea in July, 1993."
This had caused "widespread genuine concern" in Ireland, Mr Stagg went on. "Despite assurances given to me by the UK authorities . . . that safety was of paramount importance in the nuclear industry, my Department was informed as recently as last week of yet another incident at Wylfa and another at Heysham.
"This apparently endless stream of incidents at nuclear installations (in Britain) leads my, government to the inevitable conclusion that old, unsafe reactors, many of which are situated close to the Irish Sea, should be shut" down and that no new nuclear capacity should be built."
The Minister said that his presence at the inquiry into Nirex UK's plans for a preliminary rock laboratory "emphasises the Irish Government's grave concern at the possibility of an underground nuclear dump being built virtually on the edge of the Irish Sea" for the permanent storage of, radioactive waste.
"This would represent an unnecessary and unacceptable addition to the existing extensive, operations at Sellafield", he declared, adding that the Government was "most strongly opposed" to it. "Any degree of radioactive contamination of the Irish Sea is simply not acceptable to the Irish people.
Much of the presentation made on behalf of the Government by Prof Lauterpacht related to potential contamination of the marine environment from radioactive materials leaking from the dump planned by Nirex, which could contain up to 400,000 cubic metres of nuclear waste.
"Nirex has not even made a pretence that there will be no avoidable discharge of radioactive materials into the Irish Sea. Rather the reverse. The Irish Sea is foreseen as a `safety' device to dilute and disperse radioactive releases that the UK is not willing or able to accommodate on its own territory", he said.
Flanked by an Admiralty map of the Irish Sea, he told the inquiry that it was impossible to predict accurately the impact of such a dump over its extended lifespan, running into thousands of years, and the potential impact of the escape of radioactive elements into the marine environment.
The professor, whose presentation was listened to intently by a large team from Nirex, said that it was not up to him to prove that this would represent a real danger to Ireland. "The burden of proof rests upon Nirex to show that the danger can or will arise from those discharges", he declared.
Prof Lauterpacht pointed out that Irish fishing rights extended to within 12 miles of the British coast and that, in 1994, some 1,400 Irish fishermen, operating from 400 vessels, had landed 23,225 tonnes of fish from the Irish Sea with a retail value of £68 million. Ireland, therefore, had an economic interest to protect.
Some waste which would be deposited in an underground dump had a half life of thousands of years. "We are, therefore, not entitled to deal with the matter on a short term basis or to assume that some Armageddon will occur which will bring life in this part of the world to an end and thus terminate the problem."
A spokesman for Nirex said that he was glad that the Irish Government had been given an opportunity to present its case.
The fate of the proposed rock laboratory will be decided by Mr Gummer after the inquiry inspector has reported, probably next October.
