Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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171. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the Government was first made aware of reported leaks from the Magnox swarf storage silo, MSSS, at the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria (details supplied); if the Government was formally notified of the issue by the UK authorities; the actions the Government has taken in order to make the company and the UK authorities accountable for the matter; what if any actions the UK authorities have taken arising from any intervention from the Irish Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55134/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 171 and 178 together.

The leak at the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (MSSS) facility at Sellafield was formally reported to the UK Environment Agency in November 2019.

Since then, this matter has been reported on by the UK’s Environment Agency (EA) at the bi-annual meetings of the UK-Ireland Contact Group on Radiological Matters, and at its most recent meeting on the 29-30 November 2023, which was hosted by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) at their headquarters in County Wexford.

This group comprises senior officials and representatives from my Department, the EPA, the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the UK’s National Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the UK’s Nuclear Waste Services (NWA), the UK’s Environment Agency (EA), the Isle of Man Government Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, and Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).

Through engagement with these UK counterparts and the relevant regulators, my Department is being kept abreast of all developments at the site and satisfied with the level of co-operation being provided by the UK Authorities with regard to the facilities on the site.

At a technical level, the EPA also engages with the UK nuclear regulators, the ONR and the EA, and maintains regular contact with them in the case of technical matters or other developments of interest at nuclear sites in the UK. Having consulted with the EPA, my Department does not consider that the recent articles have uncovered any significant matters which would cause concern for Ireland. In addition, Minister of State, Ossian Smyth was briefed by senior UK officials last Thursday where it was noted that the UK regulator’s independent assessment was that the leak at the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (MSSS) does not pose a risk to the environment.