It is the more recent activities at Sellafield that are of major concern to Ireland and, likewise, the people of the Cumbria region. Two years ago British Nuclear Fuels opened a MOX fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield. This plant combines oxides of uranium and plutonium from reprocessed fuel into mixed oxide fuel for use in reactors. Britain was granted permission for it, despite a scandal over suspect safety data and the knowledge that the Irish Sea was among the most radioactive-polluted in the world. The company has a long record of radioactive discharges into the Irish Sea. Any choice on behalf of Britain in relation to nuclear power plants implies a duty to protect Ireland as its near neighbour.