LONDON — The High Court on January 13 agreed to Greenpeace and Lancashire County Council's (LCC) request for a judicial review of the British government's decision to license the controversial Thorp nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield.
Justice Laws heard Greenpeace's arguments and ordered a full judicial review to begin on February 7. This hearing will decide whether it was legal for the British government to decide to license massive radioactive discharges from Thorp. This decision was announced on December 17.
Greenpeace and LCC are taking this court action because they believe that — under national law — the government is obliged to hold an independent public inquiry before any final decision over the future of the plant is made.
In the full judicial review, Greenpeace and LCC will ask the High Court to overturn the decision to authorise Thorp's radioactive discharges. If successful, the court action will force the government to hold a full and independent public inquiry before the plant is allowed to operate.
The British Government also faces criticism for non-compliance with international legal and environmental obligations. As a member of the European Union, Britain has been criticised for not complying with EC directive 85/337/EEC, which requires member states to undertake comprehensive environmental impact assessments of potentially damaging activities.
In addition, the UK Government's granting of a discharge licence has brought it into direct conflict with its obligations as a party to the 1974 Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Land-based Sources (the Paris Convention).
Greenpeace's court case will be decided before operation of Thorp begins. In fact, while having stated in the past that the plant was ready to operate, British Nuclear Fuels Limited provided the High Court with evidence that it will not start reprocessing at Thorp for at least another month. Before this evidence came to light, it was believed that plutonium separation at Thorp would begin on January 17.