sellafield

The Government is being taken to court to prevent the controversial plutonium plant at Sellafield from opening. Lawyers acting for Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace today filed papers in the High Court.

The judicial review follows Wednesday's decision by the Government to give state-owned British Nuclear Fuels Plc (BNFL) the go-ahead to begin operations at the mixed oxide (MOX) plant. Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace say the decision is unlawful because:

The UK Government's approval, announced today, for a controversial new plutonium fuel facility at the Sellafield nuclear complex will increase the risk of terrorists seizing weapons usable material, Greenpeace has warned.

The group said the decision to give the go-ahead to British Nuclear Fuels' mixed oxide or 'MOX' fuel plant and its associated exports was "dangerously irresponsible and "an affront to the international community". On Monday, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called upon the world to work together to reduce the risks of terror groups obtaining nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Today's move ignores that call and extends the proliferation of plutonium around the world.

British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) has refused to allow Greenpeace to attend this week's Wylfa Local Community Liaison Council to ask questions about the safety of the controversial nuclear plant on Anglesey (1). 

Nuclear contaminati

Greenpeace International - According to leaked documents published today in the UK 'Independent on Sunday' newspaper, customers of troubled nuclear company, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), are deeply dissatisfied over massive cost overruns and failures in key facilities at Sellafield. According to the documents, customers are considering legal action if the situation continues.

Spent nuclear waste fuel shipments from German nuclear power plants to the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria are about to resume. This will be the first time waste has been transported from Germany to Sellafield since shipments were stopped in 1998.

Three casks of nuclear waste are rumoured to be due to leave the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant on 23rd April. They will travel by sea to Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria and then be taken by train to the reprocessing plant at Sellafield.

Greenpeace described today's announcement by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) as "A shocking indictment of Sellafield's continuing safety crisis."

In particular the NII reported today that BNFL has so far failed to fully implement 25 of the 28 Sellafield site safety recommendations the NII made last year, and that it expects full completion to take until the end of 2002.

Greenpeace today attacked the government's newly released strategy on radioactive substances as an outrage.

"This announcement is pure spin" said Greenpeace nuclear campaigner, Pete Roche, he continued

"The government are saying that they are achieving 'major cuts' in radioactive discharges when in fact what they are doing is failing to meet the commitments they made to the international community to reduce radioactive discharges"