British Nuclear Fuels Ltd has told the Government it has dropped plans to increase atmospheric emissions of radioactive tritium from its THORP reprocessing plant at Sellafield.Mr John Guinness, BNFL's chairman, said an application to the UK Environment Agency for permission to increase these emissions had been withdrawn. However, it was still pursuing an application for a decrease in limits for liquid discharges into the Irish Sea.Mr Joe Jacob, Minister of State responsible for nuclear safety, who received the information from Mr Guinness by letter last week, said yesterday that while such "partial enhancements" were welcome, "more clean up improvements were needed at Sellafield".The discharge of all radioactive substances into the Irish Sea was "objectionable and unacceptable" to the Government here - particularly, the "dramatic increases" since 1993 in the levels of technetium-99, which was of "major concern" to the public."A greater reduction in discharge levels for all radionuclides needs to be achieved and the application of the best available technology must be vigorously pursued so that all atmospheric and marine emissions are kept as low as possible and eliminated."In his letter to Mr Jacob, BNFL's chairman said the decision to drop its application for permission to drop its application for permission to increase tritium emissions was a consequence of further experience gained from commissioning the THORP plant and technological improvements in its operations.However, Mr Jacob said Ireland's objections to Sellafield were more broadly based and could not be satisfied by "minor variations to discharge limits".He would be making a detailed submission on the issue to the UK Environment Agency.
