NUCLEAR WASTE

Early day motion 1351, tabled 21 May 2002 by Eddie McGrady (Social Democratic and Labour Party). Signed by 54 members.

That this House notes that the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate in 2000 described safety on the BNFL Sellafield site as only just tolerable; notes that the Royal Society has called for an urgent safety review of high and intermediate level waste management to take into account the possibility of extreme terrorist intervention; notes that British Energy has described reprocessing as an economic nonsense; notes that the Irish Government has called for Sellafield to be shut; notes that 1.3 million postcards were sent to the Prime Minister from the Irish public also calling for Sellafield to be shut; also notes that Norway's Prime Minister has called for an end to radioactive discharges from Sellafield; further notes that the Caribbean foreign ministers have called for an end to the transport of nuclear waste to and from Sellafield through the Caribbean Sea; recognises that the proposed establishment of a liabilities management agency represents and opportunity for the Government to rectify the problems caused by the nuclear industry over the past 50 years; and therefore calls upon the Government to bring a swift end to the reprocessing of spent nuclear waste fuel and to move speedily towards the establishment of a system of storage for spent nuclear waste fuel.

Signatures by party: Labour 23, Liberal Democrat 19, Scottish National Party 4, Social Democratic and Labour Party 3, DUP 2, Plaid Cymru 2, UUP 1.