The company behind the proposed hazardous waste incinerator for Cork has objected to parts of a draft operating licence for its own plant, on the basis it would limit the types of waste it could accept.
Last month Indaver Ireland passed one of the last hurdles to building the controversial plant at Ringaskiddy, after the Environmental Protection Agency granted it a draft pollution control licence to burn up to 100,000 tonnes of hazardous waste a year.
Indaver has now objected to a condition on the licence which the company claims is too restrictive and would force it to reject waste that the proposed plant would be more than able to burn.
The EPA is to make a final decision on the licence in the coming months, after receiving 16 submissions, including one from Indaver. The company claimed the rejected waste would have to be exported to exactly the same type of facilities as the proposed Ringaskiddy plant and which were not subject to the same type of condition.
However, Indaver denied that if the proposed restriction was lifted, it would lead to increased emissions.
The proposed licence has set limits on the concentrations of various hazardous pollutants in the waste to be burned at the plant. According to Indaver, this means each drum of waste would have to be tested to ensure it has concentrations below these levels.
The company also said the concentration of pollutants would have no bearing on the emissions level from the plant because of the technology it used to "clean" emissions before they were released to the atmosphere.
Mr John Ahern, general manager of Indaver Ireland, said the condition did not "recognise fully the capabilities of the state-of-the-art gas-cleaning system to be installed in the facility. Due to the efficiency of this system, air emissions from the facility will be well within the EU limits set down in the licence."
Meanwhile, the Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment has claimed the licence was not compliant with World Health Organisation and European Union guidelines. It said recent flooding on the site made it unsuitable for a hazardous waste facility.