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An overview of the Sellafield site in 2008 when the Irish and British governments decided to launch a joint risk assessment. British Nuclear Group/PA Wire

Accident at Sellafield would have "no health effects in Ireland"

Department of the Environment releases report from independent experts on risk to Ireland of a radioactive leak at the Cumbrian nuclear site as it is being decommissioned.

A REPORT FROM an independent panel of international experts has claimed that a radioactive leak at Sellafield would have “no observable health effects in Ireland”.

The team, which includes nuclear physicists, chemists and engineers, was commissioned by the Irish government to make a risk assessment of what would happen if there were an incident at the nuclear site. Sellafield lies about 180km from Ireland’s coastline.

The Department of Environment, Community and Local Government has just released the report detailing the findings of the group.

The department says that the report is based on “previously unavailable information” and that it was an “objective and scientifically robust assessment of the risks to Ireland from Sellafield”. It is what is called a Probalistic Risk Assessment (PRA). It took into account many possible scenarios, including airplane crashes, terrorist attacks, fires, human error and natural events such as earthquakes or meteor strikes.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan said the report would be used to help form Irish government policies relating to Sellafield and nuclear policy in the UK. He did say, however, that Ireland should remain “vigilant” over Sellafield to be assured that the work being undertaken there to decommission the site is safe. He reaffirmed Ireland’s status as a non-nuclear country.

These are some of the key findings in the report:

  • The release of radioactive material from the Sellafield site or its nearby Low-Level Waste Repository (LLWR) would “result in no observable health effects in Ireland”.
  • The research team investigated three of the most likely scenarios, each of which would result in radioactive materials ending up in the high atmosphere with the potential to be dispersed over a “significant distance”. They found that:
The analysis showed that some radioactive materials could reach Ireland but at levels far below the dose levels that could cause observable health effects and well below the level of background radiation people normally receive each year. For all other PRA scenarios, doses would be much lower. While radioactive materials from the release could be detected using sensitive measurement equipment, the levels would not be enough to cause observable health effects in Ireland.
  • However, a severe incident at either Sellafield or the LLWR could “create significant socioeconomic impacts in Ireland”. These would include a negative impact on tourism and exports of Irish seafood and agricultural products over a general fear – even if unfounded – over their safety.
  • If sea levels were to rise further and coastal storms result in the contents of the LLWR leaking into the Irish Sea, the report found that the danger of radiation would be “barely detectable”. By the time any material  reached the coast of Ireland, it would have been diluted by seawater, currents and also by time as this is a very long-term scenario.
  • This is the status of Sellafield at the moment: “a collection of facilities that process and store used fuel from nuclear reactors and other radioactive materials”. The LLWR “stores low-level radioactive waste from all over the UK”. The reactors which previously produced plutonium for nuclear weapons or generated electricity “have all been shut down and are being decommissioned and dismantled”.

The National Audit Office in the UK said earlier this month that Sellafield posed “significant risks to people and the environment” in Cumbria. The NAO accused the site operators of failing to maintain many of its 1,400 buildings to a modern standard and warned that progress in sorting out the high-risk ponds and silos of the 1950s and 1960s was not moving swiftly enough.

The Sellafield Thorp reprocessing plant is to close in 2018. The Mox plant there closed down last year. A target of cleaning up the entire Sellafield site has been set for 2020 and €84bn earmarked for the decommissioning works.

This graphic is from today’s report to the Department of the Environment on the risk posed by various incident scenarios at Sellafield:

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    Mute The Guru
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    Feb 28th 2020, 12:44 PM

    People who call their son Jack are also extremely likely to drive a VW Golf and think Mrs Brown’s Boys is the best comedy on TV.

    234
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    Mute Mark Murphy
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:14 PM

    @The Guru: really..I dont have a golf and hate mrs browns boys.
    Drive A4 and watch friends ;)

    24
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    Mute David Markey
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:44 PM

    @Mark Murphy: I drive an Audi and hate Mrs brown’s boys with a passion.

    18
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    Mute Sequoia
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    Feb 28th 2020, 12:33 PM

    And next year we’ll have at least one Corona

    118
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    Mute Chin Feeyin
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    Feb 28th 2020, 12:43 PM

    @Sequoia: and lots of Mary Lou’s.

    93
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    Mute Honeybee
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    Feb 28th 2020, 12:57 PM

    @Chin Feeyin: Funny thing when I was a child , my first tea set was a Mary Lou tea set, four cups, saucers ,plates,teapot,sugar and cream jug and four little spoons, they were coloured yellow with red flowers and made in tin by chad valley, they are collectors items now.

    17
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    Mute greg merrin
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    Feb 28th 2020, 12:52 PM

    I was assured that Mohammed was in the top 5? What’s going on?

    79
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    Mute ObsidianShine
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    Feb 28th 2020, 12:56 PM

    @greg merrin: Did Gemma tell you that?

    99
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    Mute Nolan Spare
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:47 PM

    @greg merrin: 78 and creeping up

    31
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    Mute Nolan Spare
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:52 PM

    @Nolan Spare: it’s the most common name in the UK now taking all the different spellings into account.

    25
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    Mute Bountyop
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:52 PM

    @greg merrin: Definitely a cover up…can’t see a ‘foreign’ name in the top 20…shows a further cover up of the imminent takeover of Ireland by foreigners with staggering birth rates simultaneously stealing jobs and claiming benefits

    25
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    Mute Bountyop
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:56 PM

    @greg merrin: It’s a conspiracy…it’s definitely number 1, as the staggeringly high birth rate of immigrants and them simultaneously taking jobs & benefits is leading to an imminent apocalypse & collapse of Irish society

    9
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    Mute ihcalaM
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    Feb 28th 2020, 2:56 PM

    @Bountyop: Are you a parody account?

    7
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    Mute greg merrin
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    Feb 28th 2020, 4:31 PM

    @Nolan Spare: You mean it has fallen from 63 last year? That type of creeping up?

    7
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    Mute Fergal O'Hagan
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    Feb 28th 2020, 12:43 PM

    I am happy that in each of my 3 kids school years there is not another kid with the same name as them!

    75
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    Mute Keelan O'neill
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:31 PM

    @Fergal O’Hagan: can i take a guess. Attracta, Assumpta & Dymphna.

    110
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    Mute Wheresmyjumper
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:33 PM

    @Fergal O’Hagan: Kim Kardashian can say the same thing how does that make you feel? thats what the world needs more of…pretentious parents with notions

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    Mute Fergal O'Hagan
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    Feb 28th 2020, 5:52 PM

    @Keelan O’neill: close, Bingo, Bango and Bongo!!!

    6
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    Mute Fergal O'Hagan
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    Feb 28th 2020, 5:55 PM

    @Wheresmyjumper: didn’t go as extreme as her but just gave them regular names that aren’t common. We used our imagination and relatives names!!! Trust me I have no notions!!!

    7
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    Mute Bart Teeling
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:01 PM

    C’mon folks, jack again? Sick of it at this stage. As well as the rest of the downton abbey type names.

    78
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    Mute Chris Linehan
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:09 PM

    @Bart Teeling: Pipe down Bort!

    110
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    Mute Martin Byrne
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:43 PM

    @Bart Teeling: Don’t have a cow man !!

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    Mute Mark Mooney
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    Feb 28th 2020, 4:29 PM

    @Chris Linehan: are you talking to me ?

    1
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    Mute Keith ☘️
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    Feb 28th 2020, 12:47 PM

    No Keith on the list? Shocked!

    38
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    Mute Newto2016
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    Feb 28th 2020, 2:52 PM

    Guys, we have enough Jacks now, come on! Show some originality

    40
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    Mute rice water
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    Feb 28th 2020, 4:30 PM

    @Newto2016: the toilet or the names?

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    Mute Malachy
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:48 PM

    Feeling pretty unique

    29
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    Mute Honeybee
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    Feb 28th 2020, 12:51 PM

    The new boys name which is taken off big time is ‘Theo’,unbelievable numbers calling their child with this name.

    28
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    Mute Ross
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:20 PM

    Ross is better than Jack

    24
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    Mute Edel Boyle
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    Feb 28th 2020, 4:06 PM

    I have a little girl last January and called her Mary-Anne definitely not on the list since 1969

    21
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    Mute munsterman1
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    Feb 28th 2020, 2:00 PM

    Are you sure that’s not the English list?

    21
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    Mute Peter Leonard
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:25 PM

    3 Rueben’s in my kids class

    19
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    Mute Ananya Sharma
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    Feb 28th 2020, 2:17 PM

    @Peter Leonard: 4 and you’ll have the makings of a cube.

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    Mute nothing witty
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    Feb 28th 2020, 2:46 PM

    When I was young I rarely heard of any other boys/girls called Darragh/Daragh. Now we’re everywhere. I turn my head every time I hear someone say the name as I’ve inadvertently been programmed to think I’m the only one and they have be talking to me…

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    Mute owentighe
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    Feb 28th 2020, 3:28 PM

    Odhran seems to be the most popular boys name. Makes the list twice. One with a fada and the other without.

    11
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    Mute Bountyop
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    Feb 28th 2020, 2:00 PM

    @Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns: it appears to have fallen from 63 to 78…

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    Mute Ananya Sharma
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    Feb 28th 2020, 2:15 PM

    @Bountyop: It increased from 63 to 78.

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    Mute Edel Boyle
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    Feb 28th 2020, 4:06 PM

    I have a little girl last January and called her Mary-Anne definitely not on the list since 1969

    9
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    Mute nothing witty
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    Feb 28th 2020, 4:10 PM

    @Edel Boyle: Repeating yourself isn’t going to move her name up the list, Edel! I’m kidding, congrats and it’s a lovely name!

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    Mute rice water
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    Feb 28th 2020, 4:33 PM

    embed the maps next time lads

    9
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    Mute AnnieBelle
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:39 PM

    I know 6 Noah’s. I have a Jack and dont know another one

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    Mute Ross
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    Feb 28th 2020, 1:44 PM

    @AnnieBelle: all noahs look the same

    26
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    Mute Goban Saor
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    Feb 28th 2020, 3:37 PM

    @AnnieBelle: I heard a fellow in the Rotunda with a really strong Cork accent whose wife just had a boy.

    A nurse asked him if they’d come up with a name for their baby boy, “Noah”, he replied. “I’m sure you’ll think of something” the nurse said”… He looked at her like her two heads, “Noah, that’s his name, like”

    55
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    Mute Zmeevo Libe
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    Feb 28th 2020, 7:01 PM

    What is it about giving children shortened names? Charlie instead of Charles, Katie instead of Katherine. I thought only the Americans do that. One day Charlie will be 40 year old, maybe inposition of authority. I mean name them properly and then call them Robie if you want!

    8
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    Mute Edel Boyle
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    Feb 28th 2020, 4:07 PM

    I’d a little girl last Jan and named her Mary-Anne definitely not on the list since 1969 lol

    3
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    Mute Garreth Byrne
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    Feb 28th 2020, 5:40 PM

    Jack was No. 1 and Daniel(s) was No. 5. Did any parents with the surname Burbon name their baby son Jack Daniels?

    2
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    Mute Martina Loughlin
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    Feb 28th 2020, 7:11 PM

    Obviously made a mistake with my Daughter Emily 2012, but not with Ben 2007

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    Mute Edel Boyle
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    Feb 28th 2020, 4:06 PM

    I have a little girl last January and called her Mary-Anne definitely not on the list since 1969

    1
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    Mute Bridget O'Hanlon
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    Feb 28th 2020, 9:18 PM

    @Edel Boyle: when the Journal says there’s a problem posting you comment they are lying. Does it all the time, just ignore it

    9
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