Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 581: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if the Government is informed by the British Government on the transfer of nuclear materials on the Irish Sea, particularly the transit of plutonium from Sellafield to Cherbourg onboard the Atlantic Osprey; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38664/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I refer to my reply to Question No. 1 on 4 May 2006. Shipments of radioactive material, including MOX fuel, are subject to international maritime regulations, including the right of passage, and to strict international safety standards applicable to the marine transport of such material. The recent shipment of MOX fuel from the UK was the subject of a diplomatic démarche between the UK and Ireland, in accordance with well established procedures between Coastal and Shipping States. As a result of our efforts over the years, information is made available to Ireland on a voluntary and confidential basis by the Governments of shipping states, principally, Japan, France and the UK, in relation to shipments of radioactive material. This information is transmitted to relevant Government operational authorities such as the Irish Coast Guard who will monitor the situation. The Government received an assurance from the UK that the recent MOX Fuel shipment would not enter Irish territorial waters and that the shipment complies with a stringent system of regulation established in line with internationally agreed standards and recommendations. The long standing views and policy of the Irish Government, which oppose the continued shipment of nuclear wastes and spent fuels through the Irish Sea, were again clearly expressed to the UK Government representatives.

The MOX Plant at Sellafield utilises plutonium, separated during reprocessing of spent fuel for foreign customers at Sellafield, and returns it in the form of MOX fuel for use in nuclear reactors. The views of the Irish Government on shipments to and from Sellafield have been argued consistently and at all levels and were raised during the course of the international legal proceedings instituted by the Irish Government under the United National Convention on the Law of the Sea in relation to the MOX plant itself.

Ireland, in its proceedings before the UNCLOS Arbitral Tribunal, forcefully contended that the MOX Plant is inextricably linked with the operation of THORP, with all that this entails in relation to marine radioactive discharges to the Irish Sea, marine transports of nuclear wastes and fuels and our ongoing safety concerns. These concerns, regrettably, are regularly reinforced by the poor ongoing safety record at the Sellafield complex and more recently by the serious incident at the THORP Plant in April 2005.

Because of these concerns the Irish Government will continue to use every diplomatic, political and legal route available to bring about the safe and orderly closure of the Sellafield plant.