Irish MEP wants EU nuclear plants shut

A Fianna Fail MEP has urged the setting up of a working group to oversee the phasing out of nuclear installations in the EU.

Speaking in the European Parliament last night, Mr Liam Hyland (Leinster) said such a group should be set up "in light of the decision of the German government to withdraw from the use of nuclear power . . . "

"There can be no doubting the public concern about nuclear safety in general, and about the long-term environmental implications as existing installations become obsolete."

He continued: "It is the duty of the European Parliament to reflect in its policies public opinion on matters of national and community interest." On the need for the decommissioning of nuclear plants, he said the people of Europe had spoken.

He said abandonment of nuclear energy by some memberstates would have to be gradual and on a planned basis because of the investment incurred.

"The immediate challenge in this regard is that of securing agreement to phase out all nuclear plants in principle and formulate a medium to long-term sustainable energy policy based on the use of renewable resources."

Mr Jim Fitzsimons (FF, Leinster) said Sellafield "leaks, lies and cover-up" had been consistently denounced by Fianna Fail MEPs back to the early days of Windscale.

"We are totally opposed to the proposed new expansion of Sellafield. There is no justification, economic or otherwise, for reprocessing nuclear waste."

He said his party would not support any programme which would contribute to a continuation of lethal contamination from Sellafield. Research money would be far better used on investigating non-nuclear renewable energy. He was convinced the time had come for Europe to stop being perceived as a follower of the United States and Japan in areas of research and become itself a world leader in the field. "We can do it if we want to."

The Green Party Leinster MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern, said it was apparent nuclear fusion had no future and it was therefore madness for the EU to continue the budget for research into the area. She had placed amendments to the specific programme concerned, which would transfer such funding to examining the decommissioning of power plants such as Sellafield and Dounreay.

Ms Ahern also criticised what she described as a self-perpetuating oligarchy which oversees the EU's radiation protection programme under the Euratom Treaty.

"The programme is decided at closed meetings to which only existing research co-ordinators are invited and by government advisory committees. These people represent mainly the radiological protection boards of member-governments and as such represent those in the member-countries who get Euratom grants.

"A case in point is Ireland, where three of the four members of the advisory committee are employed by or otherwise affiliated with the Irish Radiation Protection Board and are funded by Euratom. The remaining member is a civil servant in the Department of Energy. Every other Irish national advisory committee has a broad representation from all interested parties and has 12 to 16 members."

She said there was a similar lack of openness in the "so-called independent review" of submitted projects to this programme in Euratom. Application to see the complete list of reviewers was refused, she said, and asked why it was not being made public.

"This is a situation where self-regulation does not work. The Euratom Treaty had as its stated aim `to promote the safe use of nuclear power' but safety research is conducted by those seeking to promote the use of nuclear power, independent research being blocked," she said.