25th April 1999

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Sellafield Plutonium Loss - Criminal Negligence

Independent Inquiry Called For

Sinn Fein's Seán Crowe, European Parliament elections candidate for Dublin, has called the reported loss of plutonium from Britain's Sellafield nuclear plant ``an act of gross criminal negligence which threatens the health of Irish men, women and children''.

Calling for the immediate closure of Sellafield and for the Irish and British governments to initiate ``top-level, independent inquiries'', Seán Crowe said:

``British Nuclear Fuels seem to lose health-threatening materials with a casualness that beggars belief. We're not talking about a packet of biscuits here, we're talking about dangerous, radioactive waste.''

The Sinn Fein representative for Tallaght South said: ``Sellafield is supposed to be a state-of-art facility with hi-tech disposal, monitoring and security systems - it appears to have all the security and tracking systems of a church garden fete.''

Seán Crowe added: ``Sitting practically on Dublin's doorstep - just 100 miles as the radioactive cloud blows - the Sellafield nuclear plant has made the Irish Sea the most contaminated water mass in the world though man-made causes.''

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