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British, Irish scientists to meet on Sellafield
British, Irish scientists to meet on Sellafield
LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - British and Irish nuclear watchdogs
will meet next week to discuss Britain's troubled Sellafield nuclear
reprocessing plant, Irish Energy Minister, Joe Jacob said on
Saturday.
The meeting comes hard on the heels of a damning report which
raised safety concerns at the British plant.
Britain's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) said plant owner
BNFL had faked data on nuclear fuel sent to Japan and identified a
``systematic management failure'' at the state-owned company.
The British government has called for an urgent management
shake up at Sellafield.
Ireland responding on Friday by calling for the temporary closure of
the plant in northwest England.
Jacob said on Saturday he wanted to emphasise the ``depth of
concern'' in Ireland about the risk of an incident at a nuclear plant
located only a short distance across the Irish Sea from his country.
He said members of the NII would meet the Radiological Protection
Institute of Ireland next week.
Jacob said he had written to Britain's energy minister, Helen
Liddell, asking her to consider temporarily closing Sellafield.
``I have asked that the UK should consider very, very carefully
suspending the reprocessing and associated operations at
Sellafield,'' he told BBC radio.
``I would like to see it done forthwith, at least until the changes that
are necessary -- new management systems that would inspire
confidence in the safety culture.''
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