Two senior officials from the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland will travel to London this morning seeking assurances from their Britishcounterparts on the safety of operations at Sellafield.

The meetings between chief executive of the RPII Dr Tom O'Flaherty and deputy chief executive Mr John Cunningham, and the chief inspector of the British Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, Mr Laurence Williams, follow the NII's damning report published on Friday.

The report, compiled by Mr Williams, documents how quality control data at the uranium and plutonium mixed-oxide fuel (MOX) plant were falsified. The problems are said to date back to 1996. However, the report says that although data were falsified, there would be no effect on the safety of fuel in a nuclear reactor.

The meetings between Irish and British experts are likely to last two days and Dr O'Flaherty and Mr Cunningham are expected to report to the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Mr Joe Jacob, on Wednesday. The Minister will then decide on the Government's next move, which is likely to be increased pressure on Britain to close the Sellafield plant temporarily.

A spokesman for the Department said a face-to-face meeting between the Minister and his British counterpart, Ms Helen Liddell, was possible. Reacting to the report on Friday, Dr O'Flaherty said it showed the fears held by Irish people over the years that an accident might happen at Sellafield were "clearly wellfounded".

Dr O'Flaherty said yesterday their "principal focus will be on what degree of assurance the NII can give us that current operations at the plant are safe". He said they would also be looking at how safe the storage tanks for highly active material were and would review all relevant technical data from the plant. There were no plans to visit the actual plant.

The Sinn FŽin TD, Mr Caoimhgh’n î Caol‡in, has called on the Taoiseach to demand the closure of Sellafield.

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