It has been revealed that the firm granted a multi-billion pound contract to clean up Britain's Sellafield nuclear plant has been given a limitless financial indemnity by the Government to pay for future accidents during the clean-up .

Whilst the estimated cost of the clean-up is unclear, costed at between £20-80 billion, there is concern that unforeseen accidents during the use of what is a relatively untried technology could cost hundreds of mllions.

The risks are so high that no insurance company is prepared to indemnify the work. The shocking revelation was exposed just as the UK parliament broke for the summer recess. Energy Minister, Malcolm Wicks, revealed that the Government has put no limit on the risk to the taxpayer thereby handing the decommissioning consortium a blank cheque when things go wrong. His answer curiously has not appeared on the on-line version of Hansard, the parliamentary record, as is usually the custom.

A key player in the consortium which has gained the contract is French firm, Areva, recently the focus of controversy. Areva and its partners stand to earn £50 million a year from the work.

Areva's operations in France recently have been under scrutiny followingseveral uranium leaks at their plants in recent weeks. A leak last month at its nuclear site at Tricastin, southern France, led to an official inquiry after Uranium poured from a ruptured pipe at a second plant. As we reported recently a large number of workers were contaminated in the incidents.

Both the Irish and Manx governments appear to be unconcerned as the Sellafield decommissioning contracts unfold. Publicly no formal representations appear to have been made to the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency in the UK about the works.

With a nuclear works scheme of this magnitude about to unfold on our doorstep and with a potential for hazard which the UK government limitless indemnity indicates surely both Mann and Ireland should be seeking greater access to decommissioning plans? They should also demand that an independent body such as the International Atomic Energy Agency verify the integrity of any schedule for the decommissioning work.

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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

04/08/08

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