Sir, - Some Irish politicians, when calling for the closure of Sellafield, do not seem to understand the following facts. When Jack Lynch signed the Common Market Treaty in 1973, Ireland also joined the EU Nuclear Agency, Euratom, "for the development of a powerful nuclear industry" and "the development of relations with the other countries by creating the conditions necessary for the speedy establishment and growth of nuclear industries".
Since 1973, Ireland has contributed billions of pounds to Brussels and each year a good proportion of this Irish taxpayers' money is spent on the promotion, development and extension of nuclear power plants throughout Europe, including Sellafield. This money is distributed in grants and loans not just through Euratom but through the Social Fund, the Regional Fund, the Energy Section and the European Investment Bank.
For example, in the past five years Irish taxpayers have given the following amounts to Brussels: £543 millions in 1995, £541 millions in 1996, £513 millions in 1997, £779 million in 1998 and £836 millions in 1999.
Out of this Irish money, the following was spent on the promotion, development and expansion of nuclear power plants: £92 million (1999), £89 million (1998), £61 million (1997), £57 million (1996) and £55 million (1995). As a result of these and the other EU countries' contributions to nuclear expansion, it is no surprise that 147 of the world's 437 nuclear reactors are now operating in just eight of the EU countries, including 59 in France, 35 in the UK, 20 in Germany, 12 in Sweden, nine in Spain, seven in Belgium, four in Finland and one in the Netherlands.
With regard to Sellafield, it should be noted that no Irish Government opposed the construction of the Thorp Sellafield plant which is responsible for the increasing radiation levels in the Irish Sea. In fact, the Fianna Fail government under Jack Lynch refused the request of the National Co-operative Council to object to the building of the Thorp plant when the specially arranged public inquiry was held at Whitehaven in Cumbria in 1977. In the absence of an official Irish Government objection, the National Co-operative Council, on October 19th, 1977, presented a written submission to the inquiry on behalf of the Irish people, against the building of Thorp.
In early 1994, when Thorp was due to begin operating, it was announced that during its first 10 years, the new plant would produce 60 tons of plutonium, much of which was to go to Japan. Only eight kilograms are needed to make a bomb.
In its first decade, Thorp was also due to produce 640,000 cubic metres of nuclear waste, 436,000 cubic metres of which was to come from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from Japan (2,673 tons), Britain (2,158 tons), Germany (969 tons), Switzerland (422 tons), Spain (145 tons), Italy (143 tons), Sweden (140 tons), Netherlands (52 tons) and Canada (2 tons). The transporting of this nuclear waste and plutonium to and from these countries is as great a danger as the plant itself.
Sellafield is the greatest threat that this country has ever known. Our half-hearted complaints about it will never be taken seriously by anyone, as long as we continue to help pay for it. - Yours, etc.,
John O'Halloran, Bantry Road, Dublin 9.