Sinn Fein calls for Sellafield closure

Further calls for closure of Sellafield

A Sinn Fein politician has called for "people power" to force the closure of the Sellafield nuclear waste disposal plant near Cumbria.

The party's sole member of the Dublin parliament, Caoimhghin O Caolain, made the call during a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament conference in London on Saturday.

He said efforts were needed on both sides of the Irish Sea to bring about the end of the complex.

"Sellafield is a most serious and immediate danger to all the people of Ireland and Britain - a potential Chernobyl in our midst," he said.

It has turned the Irish Sea into the most nuclear polluted stretch of water in the world

Caoimhghin O Caolain

He said the British Government's decision to open a new mixed oxide (Mox) fuel facility at Sellafield meant Prime Minister Tony Blair was guilty "of an act of bad faith and disregard for the Irish people".

Mr O Caolain said it was "on a par with anything done by his predecessors in the long and sorry history of Anglo-Irish relations".

He added: "The demand for the complete closure of Sellafield is now growing as people realise the threat posed to us all by an attack on the plant similar to that in the United States on September 11.

"That is the real danger."

'United effort'

Mr O Caolain, who represents the Cavan-Monaghan constituency in the parliament, said that even if 11 September had never happened, Sellafield should still be closed down.

"It has turned the Irish Sea into the most nuclear-polluted stretch of water in the world," he said.

"I take this opportunity to call for a united effort by people on both sides of the Irish Sea to have Sellafield shut down.

Bertie Ahern: Appalled by the decision to approve the Mox plant

"This plant endangers the lives of people in Britain as much as in Ireland."

Earlier this month, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern called for the Sellafield plant to close amid concerns about terrorist threats and environmental damage.

He accused Tony Blair of timing the announcement that the Mox operation would open, to coincide with the aftermath of the US terror attacks.

The Mox plant, which processes a blend of plutonium and uranium, was given the go-ahead at the start of this month.

Mr Ahern said the risk from the site in Cumbria was "unacceptably increased" with the announcement to push ahead with the new operation.

He added that the plant, which lies only 200km from Dublin, represented the biggest threat to Ireland's environment.

Mr Ahern described the plant as "being kept on a life support machine" by the British taxpayer.

The nuclear industry believes recycling the used fuel and turning it into Mox can help reduce the world's growing stockpile of plutonium, one of the most toxic substances known to humankind.