News
Dearey raises concern over new UK nuclear plants
A campaign group in France says leaked confidential documents show tests on the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) present a potentially catastrophic scenario. Louth-based Senator Mark Dearey, who raised the issue in the Seanad yesterday and called for a debate, said Local Authorities in Britain and Ireland had also raised concerned at the plans.
"Nuclear Free Local Authorities, a highly regarded organisation of Local Authorities representing major cities in the UK and eleven Local Authorities in Ireland, has asked the UK's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate to investigate reports that the new European Pressurised Water Reactor contains fundamental design faults that could in the words of one protest group, cause ‘another Chernobyl', should a reactor core become unstable.
Speaking during the Order of Business Senator Dearey said: "I note the fact that Nuclear Free Local Authorities is taking this report seriously and has written to the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate in Britain asking it to investigate the assertion. I call for a debate on the issue in the House and believe we should investigate joining with Nuclear Free Local Authorities in seeking that the United Kingdom's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate investigate closely the assertion that this reactor design is fundamentally unsafe."
A report from the Guardian newspaper on this issue can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/07/edf-nuclear-reactor-chernobyl-risk
From the Green Party website
http://www.greenparty.ie/en/news/latest_news/dearey_raises_concern_over_new_uk_nuclear_plants