Translation of "Usine de retraitement des déchets nucléaires " (French → English) :

The installations included in the verification activities are 3 reprocessing plants (and 2 adjacent waste disposal sites), 20 nuclear power plants (of which 3 were no longer in operation), 5 research institutes, 2 NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) related installations, 1 uranium mine and 7 hospitals in 4 Member States.

In light of the widespread protest against the transport of highly radioactive waste from France to Germany in March 2001 and of the international protests from governments and environmentalists that arose earlier this year over the maritime shipment of nuclear waste and plutonium-based MOX fuel from France to Japan in a ship owned by BNFL, will the Commission consult an inquiry into the environmental, health and safety problems posed to EU citizens by the continued operation of the nuclear reprocessing plants at Sellafield (UK) and La Hague (France) which were involved in the frequent radioactive waste referred to above.

In light of the widespread protest against the transport of highly radioactive waste from France to Germany in March 2001 and of the international protests from governments and environmentalists that arose earlier this year over the maritime shipment of nuclear waste and plutonium-based MOX fuel from France to Japan in a ship owned by BNFL, will the Commission consult an inquiry into the environmental, health and safety problems posed to EU citizens by the continued operation of the nuclear reprocessing plants at Sellafield (UK) and La Hague (France) which were involved in the frequent radioactive waste referred to above.

Only recently, there were two shipments from the Netherlands to the Sellafield and Thorp nuclear reprocessing plants operated by British Nuclear Fuels in Cumbria, and I have been informed that another 17 such shipments are due to take place from the Netherlands in the coming years.

From an Irish perspective we know that marine pollution in the Irish Sea has been on the increase in recent years and this is a direct result of the go-ahead given to the Thorp nuclear reprocessing plant in December 1993.

(1) "nuclear installation” means a nuclear fuel fabrication plant, research reactor (including subcritical and critical assemblies), nuclear power plant, spent fuel storage facility, enrichment plant or reprocessing facility;