UK expecting nuclear blast from Brussels

By Peter Chapman

Date: 02/09/04

THE European Commission is expected to take Britain to the Court of Justice for failing to tackle problems with the storage of toxic plutonium waste at the controversial Sellafield site in north-west England.

The UK authorities were obliged to hand the Commission a detailed plan accounting for an estimated 1.3 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel that could be used to make nuclear bombs, stored in a special pond at the site known as B30

The plan - that should have been drawn-up by Sellafield's owners British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) - was also meant to explain how the waste would be transferred to safer storage areas.

But Amador Sanchez Rico, a spokesman for Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, said the UK had yet to comply fully with the demand

The Commission requested the information after EU inspectors complained for several years that they were unable to carry out their usual inspections because of high levels of radiation and poor visibility at the B30 pond - known to workers as "dirty 30"

The inspections are a key part of the Euratom Treaty's 50-year-long goal of preventing weapons-grade nuclear material getting into the hands of rogue states or terrorists

Commissioners are set to discuss the issue tomorrow (3 September) before deciding whether to take London to court. But as European Voice went to press, diplomats and Commission sources indicated that a decision to go to court was most likely.

This followed a meeting on Tuesday (31 August) between members of the commissioners' cabinets

De Palacio, a staunch supporter of nuclear energy, issued the UK with a warning over Sellafield in March. She said the failure to face up to the issue "called into question the credibility of our safeguards".

Martin Forwood, campaign coordinator for Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment, an anti-nuclear campaigner in the Sellafield area said: "It is high time BNFL were brought to book over the slap dash handling of this material over many years."

The UK authorities admit there are problems but they argue that B30 poses no immediate danger and urge the Commission to have more patience before pressing ahead with legal action.

The Sellafield move is the first in a series of pending nuclear policy decisions from the Prodi Commission, which completes its mandate at the end of October

De Palacio is expected to unveil proposals next week dealing with safety and waste management at nuclear plants

The European Commission has found inadequate the United Kingdom's response to its Directive of 30 March 2004 concerning proper accounting of nuclear material and physical access to the Sellafield site.

• Primary Source

European Commission: Press Release: IP/04/1063 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/04/1063&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

---