92000E1726

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1726/00

by Nuala Ahern (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(31 May 2000)

Subject: Assessment of the hazards posed to neighbouring EU states by the storage of radioactive liquid waste at Sellafield in the United Kingdom

What assessment has been made of the hazards posed to EU states adjacent to the United Kingdom by the build-up and storage of high-activity radioactive liquid wastes at Sellafield in Cumbria, UK, resulting from the reprocessing of spent irradiated nuclear fuel?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-1726/00 and E-1727/00 given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(20 July 2000)

The high active liquor (HAL) storage facility at Sellafield has been in place since 1955. In connection with the incorporation of high level waste concentrate into glass in the Windscale vitrification plan (WVP) in 1990, a submission of general data under

Article 37 Euratom treaty for this plant was made in January 1990 and the Commission gave an opinion on this submission. The general data provided information on a reference accident which was the loss of cooling to the HAL feed vessel. It was concluded that in the event of an unplanned release of this type and magnitude the doses likely to be received by the population in Ireland, or any other Member State, would not be significant from the point of view of health. The updated review of safety of the storage of liquid high level waste at British Nuclear Fuel Limited (BNFL) Sellafield (HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, February 2000) does not provide information that would be cause for reconsideration of this assessment.

It is the responsibility of the respective Member States to require similar assessments to be carried out for the storage tanks in operation at United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Dounreay, Compagnie générale des matières nucléaires La Hague, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique Marcoule, and Forschungscentrum Karlsruhe, with regard to the potential exposure of members of the public and resulting health effects.

Bearing in mind that there are multiple containment layers, a breach of containment could nevertheless lead to significant levels of radioactivity in rivers or in the marine environment. It is thus appropriate to look into a possible detriment to the environment, in addition to man. The Commission has undertaken a research programme on effects on animal and plant life in the region and corresponding ecological detriment, and on the development of a rationale and methodology for setting standards of protection, with a view to establishing environmental quality standards. Such standards could then be applied to the assessment of the consequences of a major spillage of liquid radioactive wastes.