Sellafield ordered to curb discharges as states agree sea pollution pact

The outcome of the European convention on marine pollution meeting in Portugal has signalled the closure of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing facility unless it can reduce its discharges into the sea to "close to zero" by the year 2020.

The most significant international agreement ever adopted on curbing nuclear waste discharged into the marine environment will lead to "the end of nuclear reprocessing", predicted Greenpeace. British Nuclear Fuels believed it could reduce discharges, though the reductions envisaged would be impossible in the short term.

The extent of a climbdown by the UK government emerged last night when it was confirmed that the agreement of the OSPAR commission meeting in Sintra would lead to the closure of eight of Britain's older nuclear power stations within 10 years and the Magnox reprocessing facility at Sellafield within 20 years. The Thorp plant also at Sellafield, BNFL's main reprocessing unit and the largest in Europe, will be allowed operate subject to reducing waste levels to "close to zero" by 2020.

Declaring the agreement "a fantastic outcome", Minister of State, Mr Joe Jacob, who has responsibility for nuclear affairs, said Ireland had achieved what it wanted in terms of curbing discharges. "This will effectively result in a progressive and substantial reduction of radioactive discharges into the Irish Sea. I'm confident they will be close to zero by 2020."

His colleague at the negotiations, the Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, said agreement on radioactive discharges and the elimination of dumping of other hazardous substances at sea indicated Ireland's interventions were "now paying off".

The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, which monitors Sellafield discharges for the Government, and Irish environmental groups welcomed the agreement, though the Green Party had reservations about enforcement. The Labour Party said it was "a severe setback to the Irish campaign against Sellafield". Agreement subject to "technical feasibility is a classic escape clause", said its spokesman on public enterprise, Mr Emmet Stagg.

Greenpeace described the agreement as historic. Its spokesman, Mr Remi Parmentier, said: "It signals the beginning of the end for reprocessing." But he accused the Government of being "too soft" and "incompetent" in the face of British opposition to what had been proposed by France. Mr Jacob strongly rejected this interpretation.

The nuclear industry in the UK has been given 18 months to come up with a plan to comply with the conditions set down by 15 European countries which form the OSPAR Convention on pollution control in the north-east Atlantic.

Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, who led the British delegation, said the legally-binding agreement would be testing for Sellafield but did not require closure. It meant developing technology to reduce discharges.

The agreement will lead to a reduction in the discharges of technetium-99 which are increasingly contaminating the Irish Sea. The agreement is equally onerous on France which has a reprocessing facility at La Hague. But it was France's commitment to zero discharges which meant the UK was isolated, forcing Mr Prescott to accept more significant discharge reductions than had been signalled before the meeting.

--(Additional reporting by Guardian Service)