'Shut Sellafield' call

Greenpeace protests against reprocessing

Environmental campaigners and the Irish Government have repeated their calls for Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant to be shut down.

They say a safety shake-up announced by British Nuclear Fuels does not go far enough and the Cumbria plant's £12bn reprocessing business, which led to the dumping of nuclear waste into the sea and to nuclear waste on the site, has to stop.

Sellafield has been the target of protesters

Dr Helen Wallace of Greenpeace said: "The fundamental problems with BNFL's business are not addressed in this report.

"It is treating the symptoms, not the cause. As long as Sellafield clings to its dying plutonium business the threat to human health and the environment continues."

She added: "The government must step in to stop the reprocessing business and set BNFL on a new direction to responsibly manage and monitor nuclear waste at Sellafield, not make the matter worse."

Irish energy minister Joe Jacob said the changes did not alter his government's demand that Sellafield should be shut down.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The health and safety of international communities should not be subservient to jobs in one individual area.

"Ireland demands one thing and that is cessation of these activities."

The two-year BNFL scheme, Going Forward Safely, involves a shake-up of top level management structures and massive safety changes and follows by a damning report by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.

Brian Strutton, national officer at the GMB, which represents most of the workers at the plant, said: "We believe that this is a positive and decisive response to the NII criticism.

"BNFL needed to show they were prepared to tackle head-on the problems identified by the inspectorate and this report shows the company has had the courage to grasp the nettle and make the tough decisions necessary to restore confidence in Sellafield and its operating process."