Meltdown at Sellafield

national | environment | other press Wednesday May 11, 2005 01:07 by Brian Vernon

A leak of highly radioactive nuclear fuel dissolved in enough concentrated nitric acid to half-fill an Olympic-size swimming pool has forced the closure of Sellafield, the UK's controversial "reprocessing plant" yet the BBC are unconcerned; playing it down as a minor incident.

It appears the Irish Government are un-concerned also. It seems they knew 3 weeks ago but chose to keep quiet about it.

The leak - at the $5.4 billion Thorp reprocessing plant in northwest England - was discovered last month during an automated inspection.

Speaking yesterday :

"The full facts of the April 18th leak in Sellafield must be known for the Irish people to have any faith in the safety of the facility according to Fine Gael Environment Spokesman, Fergus O’Dowd TD."

“I welcome the Environment Department’s action in contacting their counterparts in the UK and will continue to monitor the situation closely. It is also clear that the Irish Government was informed about the leak last month and the Minister must explain what steps he took at the time.