Resolution on nuclear waste and pollution at sea

B4-1356, 1368, 1373, 1388 and 1410/95

Resolution on nuclear waste and pollution at sea

The European Parliament,

-recalling its previous resolutions about nuclear emissions from Sellafield, the British nuclear energy plant on the eastern coast of the Irish Sea, as well as other resolutions on chemical and nuclear pollution,

A.concerned at the ever-increasing pressure on the environment from dangerous waste of all kinds,

B.noting that the Scottish nuclear reprocessing plant at Dounreay, which disposes of imported nuclear waste, causes anxieties about public health and environmental dangers,

C.whereas the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has confirmed that between 1950 and 1963 it deposited barrels weighing 17 000 tonnes containing low-level radioactive waste in the English Channel,

D.whereas British Gas is preparing to lay gas pipelines in the Beaufort's Dyke area of the Irish Sea, where a large quantity of explosives, chemical weapons and nuclear waste are dumped,

E.having regard to Article 35 of the Euratom Treaty and the fact that the European Commission has announced that it would investigate the applicability of Euratom articles to the dumping grounds between Scotland and Ireland,

1.Stresses the environmental hazards, often irreversible, of the transportation of spent nuclear fuel by air, rail, road or sea;

2.Calls on the operators of all nuclear power and reprocessing plants to prevent all contamination of the environment and on all those who have dumped any nuclear or chemical waste at sea to provide a full account to the Commission without delay;

3.Calls on the Commission to conduct a specific inquiry in the framework of the Euratom Treaty on the dumping of nuclear waste in the English Channel and the Irish Sea, its possible consequences in terms of public health and environmental protection, and the need to retrieve and store this waste;

4.Calls upon the Commission to examine the UK Government's monitoring arrangements at the abovementioned sites in accordance with Article 35 of the Euratom Treaty;

5.Further calls on the Commission, in conjunction with the UK Government, to conduct a comprehensive survey of the entire undersea area of the North Channel between Scotland and Ireland as well as other known munitions and radioactive waste dumping grounds such as Hurd Deep near the Channel Islands;

6.Urges that British Gas should not lay pipelines in the Beaufort's Dyke area until a comprehensive survey of the area is completed;

7.Calls on the governments of the Member States to ensure that the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference addresses anxieties about nuclear safety and particularly the legal basis on which action can be taken concerning them;

8.Believes that producer countries must be responsible for the disposal of their own nuclear waste, and calls on the Member States of the EU to adopt a 'polluter pays' policy;

9.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the Secretary-General of the IAEA.