asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether he believes the British Government in their operation of the Sellafield plant are in breach of their international obligations, both in respect of pollution of the seas, and in respect of accountancy for nuclear materials to ensure no diversion to military purposes.

On the question of discharges into the sea from the Sellafield plant, I have no reason to believe that the United Kingdom is not carrying out its obligations under the relevant international agreement which is the Paris Convention of 1974 on the Prevention of Pollution from Land-Based Sources. There has been no suggestion to the contrary made by the Commission of this convention, which comprises the contracting States, that the UK is not in compliance with its obligations under the Convention. In addition, I understand that the British Government have recently given details to the Commission of planned measures to reduce further discharges from the Sellafield plant.

In regard to the second part of the Deputy's question, the United Kingdom is, of course, a nuclear weapon State and Sellafield is a mixed facility which reprocesses nuclear material for both civil and military purposes. The UK has, however, voluntarily concluded safeguard agreements with both EURATOM and the International Atomic Energy Agency covering civil nuclear materials processed at Sellafield. Neither of these bodies has detected any anomaly at Sellafield which would indicate the diversion of the safeguarded nuclear material from civil to military purposes.