McGrady calls for closure of Sellafield nuclear plant

The global terrorist threat arising from the attacks on the World Trade Centre has illustrated how vulnerable Sellafield is to attack, the SDLP chief whip, Mr Eddie McGrady, warned.

The South Down MP again called for the closure of the nuclear plant. He said the area around Sellafield was as heavily contaminated with radioactivity as the zone around Chernobyl.

"The recent decision by the British government to commission the mixed oxide plant at Sellafield not only defies prevailing scientific and economic arguments but compounds the situation that this plant now has the highest inventory of radioactivity in Europe," he added.

Scientific studies had shown that a nuclear accident at Sellafield or an act of malice "including an air crash or act of sabotage" could create a disaster much greater that Chernobyl.

Mr McGrady pointed to the dangers of terrorist attack. "With the advent of retributive attacks by the American and British administration against the Taliban in Afghanistan the vulnerability of Sellafield to attack from terrorist organisations is now brought more clearly into focus.

"No more so than the allegation this week from the American administration that the Taliban in Afghanistan is attempting to develop deadly nuclear weapons." Failure to close Sellafield would be not only "foolhardy but totally unacceptable" as well, Mr McGrady told the conference.

During the agriculture debate the Minister, Ms Br∅d Rodgers, criticised the chairman of the Assembly agriculture committee, the Rev Ian Paisley, leader of the DUP.

She said it was sad and ironic that Dr Paisley and others in the anti-Belfast Agreement bloc claimed "on the one hand to be concerned about the plight of our industry whilst they make every effort to bring down the very institutions which they know to have been so crucial to the well being of Northern Ireland agriculture".

Ms Rodgers said that without devolution Northern Ireland could not have banned the importation of susceptible animals, and it was this factor primarily which allowed the North escape the ravages of foot-and-mouth disease.

Through the North-South Ministerial Council there was great scope for agricultural co-operation that would be to the benefit of all the people of the island. "Over the past year I have become convinced that in the area of fisheries our common interest is not with the rest of the UK, but with the rest of this island," added Ms Rodgers.