EUROPEAN COMMISSION EXPOSES PRO-NUCLEAR STANCE AS IT SEEKS TO BLOCK IRISH GOVERNMENT OVER SELLAFIELD

26 November 2001

Dublin - Greenpeace today condemned the intervention of the European Commission against recent Irish government legal initiatives against the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria, England.

According to today’s Irish Independent newspaper, the European Commission has called on the Irish government to withdraw from two legal cases it has launched against the UK government. Specifically, the Environment Commissioner (DGX1) has challenged Ireland’s right to take action against Sellafield outside the jurisdiction of the European Community.

"The European Commission is acting on behalf of the plutonium industry and the UK government, not in the interests of protecting the environment or public health," said Shaun Burnie of Greenpeace International.

"Within the EU during the last ten years, a stockpile of over 150,000kg of plutonium has been created and as little as 5kg of this would destroy central London or Brussels in a nuclear explosion," said Burnie. "Instead of actively opposing the production of plutonium and the contamination of the environment, the Commission has sought to block a democratically elected government from seeking redress on this fundamental issue."

In June 2001, Ireland filed for international arbitration under the OSPAR Commission. (1) Last week, the Irish government presented evidence to the United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which accused the UK government of violating the Law of the Sea over its licensing of the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP). The SMP owned by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), was finally authorized to operate by the UK government on October 3rd. The European Commission has called on the Irish government to drop both the OSPAR case and the Law of the Sea case. Instead the Commission has stated that these issues should be dealt with at the European Court of Justice.

Senior lawyers acting on behalf of the UK government last week told the Law of the Sea Tribunal that they did not have jurisdiction over Sellafield, and that it was a matter for the European Community. They also disclosed for the first time that the Commission had intervened over Ireland’s OSPAR complaint.(2)

The Irish government has called for an end to the radioactive pollution of the Irish Sea by Sellafield. Around 2 million litres of nuclear waste is discharged every day from Sellafield into the ocean. It has also opposed to the Sellafield MOX Plant due to the increase in nuclear transports that are both unsafe and vulnerable to terrorist attack. It is expected early next year that international arbitration of Ireland’s OSPAR case will begin at the International Court of Justice at The Hague. The Law of the Sea case is expected to also begin during 2002. In the meantime, Ireland has asked the 21 judges of the Law of the Sea Tribunal to award interim measures against the UK government, including the suspension of the authorization of the Sellafield MOX Plant, and no transports of nuclear material into and out of Sellafield associated with the MOX plant. All 21 judges are deliberating on this matter currently, and are due to issue their judgement on December 3rd in Hamburg.

The Court of Appeals in London will hear the Friends of the Earth/Greenpeace case against the Sellafield MOX Plant on the 27th and 28th of November.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- Shaun Burnie +31 629 00 11 33,
- Jon Walter +31 626 12 96 20

please visit the Greenpeace site www.britishnuclearfuels.com

(1) The OSPAR, or Oslo Paris Commission, regulates pollution of the marine environment in the North-east Atlantic, covering areas both inside and outside EC jurisdiction. It is made up of most member states of the EU, plus non-EU members, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.

(2) See evidence of Richard Plenner QC on behalf of the UK government, November 20th, for transcript of the Law of the Sea Tribunal see: www.itlos.org or www.un.org/depts/los/index