The "cataclysmic consequences" for Ireland of a serious accident at Sellafield, or on ships transporting nuclear fuel to and from its controversial MOX reprocessing plant, were cited here yesterday to justify the Government's demand for full information on the project.
Opening Ireland's case against Britain before an arbitration tribunal in the Peace Palace, the Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady SC, said it was "manifest that Ireland has a direct material interest" in all of the operations at Sellafield, especially as the Irish Sea is already "one of the most radioactively polluted in the world".
He was addressing a three-man tribunal set up by the Permanent Court of Arbitration to deal with Ireland's case under the Ospar Convention to protect the marine environment for the release of unexpurgated versions of reports commissioned by the British government on economic and environmental aspects of the MOX plant.
The tribunal is chaired by Prof Michael Reismann, of the US, accompanied by Mr Gavan Griffith QC, an Australian lawyer, and Lord Michael Mustill, a former British law lord. Its public hearings into "this dispute between two friendly nations", as Mr Brady put it, will continue all week, with judgment expected within six months.
The Attorney General said Ireland was seeking access to the full reports so it would be in a better position to assess the likely effects of the MOX plant's operations on the marine environment of the Irish Sea and to make an objective assessment of whether it complies with the Ospar Convention and other international instruments.
The full versions of these reports, by PA Consultants and Arthur D. Little, had been withheld by the British government - owner of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd - despite repeated requests by Ireland for their release.
That was why "this saga [of Sellafield] has ended up before an international tribunal", as Mr Brady noted in his opening statement.
He also said the 1993 environmental impact statement on the MOX plant had failed to evaluate possible radiological consequences of unplanned releases following a fire or other accident in terms of exposure of people either near the Sellafield site or in the nearest EU member-state - Ireland. Nuclear reprocessing was "not a normal industry". The two main reasons for it - to produce plutonium for fast-breeder reactors and the nuclear weapons industry - were now redundant, yet it continued even in the face of unquantifiable liabilities.
The information sought by Ireland includes such basic data as the annual production capacity of the MOX plant, estimated volumes for the sale of reprocessed fuel, the amount of plutonium already on site, the life-span of the plant, the arrangements for the transport of plutonium to and from Sellafield and the likely number of such transports.
Addressing the risks associated with the MOX plant, Mr Brady said some of these may be attributable to human error or technological failure. "Either way, Ireland has a direct interest in knowing the nature of the safety standards being applied and the costs ascribed to those standards." The transportation of spent nuclear fuel and of reprocessed MOX fuel represented a further category of risk of particular significance for Ireland. "The risk of collision, fire and other perils is ever present", he warned. There was also the risk of terrorist attack, now heightened by the events of September 11th.
The Attorney General said Ireland's concerns had been intensified by the revelation in September 1999 that safety records at the MOX plant had been falsified, leading Japan to suspend imports of MOX fuel. The UK Nuclear Installations Inspectorate concluded that it "could not have occurred had there been a proper safety culture within the plant".
Mr Brady said the issue before the arbitration tribunal was "not a dry, arid request for information". What had been exposed, and the furore it caused on both sides of the Irish Sea, "validates and justifies Ireland's concerns all along about this plant".
But though the British side had accepted in correspondence throughout 2000 and 2001 that Ireland had a legitimate interest in Sellafield, it later insisted the Government had no right to the detailed information it sought. Yet Britain had produced no evidence to justify its claim the information was "commercially sensitive".
Mr Brady was accompanied by the Chief State Solicitor, Mr David O'Hagan, and by Prof Phillipe Sands, professor of international law at London University, and Mr Eoghan Fitzsimons SC. Also present as an observer was the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, who described the Attorney General's presentation as a "tour de force".
The British side is led by Mr Michael Wood QC, who will today present the British rebuttal of Ireland's case for access to the partially-suppressed reports on the MOX plant.