An eight-week public consultation has begun in Britain on an application by BNFL to change radioactive discharge limits at its Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria.
The consultation process, which began yesterday, will be overseen by the UK's Environment Agency and will continue until March 16th. The agency will take submissions from the public before reaching a decision.
It is possible for interested parties in Ireland to join in this process by writing to the agency, according to a BNFL spokesman.
The application relates to gaseous and liquid discharges and the company is seeking increases in some limits and decreases in others. If these are accepted the total output of radiation from the plant will decline slightly, according to the company.
It has applied for increases in discharges into the air of carbon14, ruthenium-106 and iodine129, a 0.0003 per cent increase in total output. It wants to decrease by 3.5 per cent discharges to sea of tritium and technetium-99. High levels of the latter radionuclid have been detected in lobsters off the Cumbrian coast.
The alterations will accommodate a new effluent plant for treating stored waste, the company has said. Responses as part of the consultation process should be sent by March 16th to Ms A. Hajnrych, Environment Agency (gaseous/liquid variations), PO Box 33, Mitre House, Church Street, Lancaster, LA1 1FP.
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