MLAs Clash On Nuclear Power

There was sharp division in the Assembly yesterday as the DUP and Sinn Fein took opposing views on the contentious issue of nuclear power.

DUP MLA Robin Newton spoke on his party's amendment to a Sinn Fein motion calling on the UK government to end operations at Sellafield, the nuclear power station in Cumbria.

Although members eventually voted in favour of an SDLP amendment that called on the Department of Health to release all information held on the matter, the DUP MLA earlier opposed Sinn Fein's Daithi McKay's demand that the Assembly should lobby the British government with a view to closing Sellafield completely.

Mr Newton said that nuclear power is a fact of life and remains as one of the most efficient methods of generating much-needed power for the whole country.

"Other means of power generation on this scale have a very significant negative impact on the environment, such as burning fossil fuels, like oil and gas, or even coal," he said.

"While I'm no fan of nuclear energy, it can't be un-invented and remains an appropriate source of energy generation," he said.

During the debate, which recalled the significant accident at Sellafield's Windscale Piles reactor in Cumbria 50 years ago - which released a vast toxic cloud - MLAs were warned of tumour and birth defect risks even now, 50 years after the fire.

Mr McKay said: "Sellafield remains a significant threat to people on this island, especially those living in the north east, and ministers as well as members from this Assembly should press the British government on this issue at every opportunity."

However, an expert has claimed that a repeat of the Windscale incident would not happen today.

Paul Howarth, director of research at the Dalton Nuclear Institute at Manchester University, said that because the design of modern nuclear reactors was completely different now, such a catastrophic chain of events could not now take place.

However, associated new research now says the incident generated twice as much radioactive material and could have caused more cancers than was previously thought. The research was published in the journal, Atmospheric Environment.

Previously, it was thought that the radiation would have eventually led to about 200 cases of cancer, but the new contamination figures suggest it could have caused about 240.

(BMcC)

See: MLAs To Debate Sellafield Fallout