As the nuclear industry presses forward to develop more sites across the UK, South Down MP Margaret Ritchie has reiterated her call for an independent inquiry into safety risks at the Sellafield nuclear power plant.
This call follows the publication of the seventeenth Report of the Department of Health’s expert committee, the Committee on the Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE).
Ms Ritchie said: “With a two year delay in publication, the belated findings of the 17th COMARE Report adds urgency to the BBC Panorma findings on Sellafield and strengthens the case for an independent inquiry into the safety risks at the site.
“Despite the report’s acknowledgment of the ‘highly unusual excess of leukaemia and NHL cases among children and young adults in Seascale’ – and its warning that ‘it is impossible to conclude that excess cases will not occur in the future’– the report deems this is ‘most unlikely to be simply attributable to exposure to radiation from radioactive discharges.’
“Others may disagree, but what is imperative is an independent inquiry that comprehensively considers all of the safety risks involved with such sites, including environmental as well as long-term health risks.
“In the wake of BBC Panorama’s confirmation of the litany of safety hazards at Sellafield, it is vital that an independent inquiry is established to make a comprehensive assessment of the safety risks at Sellafield.
“Such an inquiry must investigate the impact of indiscriminate discharges of radioactive waste into the sea on marine and land environment in the Irish Sea and on the County Down coastland. I will pursue this matter with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affair as well as with the Energy Minister.”
