State prepared for fallout from nuclear explosion, says Taoiseach

The Republic was prepared for the fallout from a nuclear explosion in Sellafield, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern assured the Dáil.

"Our national plan has been audited, tested and validated internationally in line with best practice," he said. "That is a continuous process." Mr Ahern said that for the past 20 years, national administrations, in accordance with guidance from the UN, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Commission, had been developing and updating nuclear emergency responses on an ongoing basis.

"Our national plan, which was updated last Christmas and has been published, is designed to respond to a major disaster in a nuclear installation in the UK or elsewhere."

Mr Ahern said an agreement was in place between Ireland and Britain, as well as internationally, to immediately relay to governments information on any incident of that kind. "In fairness to the British government, it has relayed detailed information when incidents took place and has become stronger in doing so in recent years."

The Taoiseach was replying to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny who noted the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl explosion. "As the Government is aware, we face a clear and present danger in Sellafield," Mr Kenny said.

"Given the potential radiation threat we face from terrorism or accidental nuclear fallout, everybody hopes that children in this country will never be deemed the new Chernobyl children." He added that the Fallout programme on RTÉ television had given "a chilling indication of what might happen in the event of a catastrophic accident at Sellafield".

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said the emergency services should carry out a nuclear disaster exercise, something the fire services had referred to.