Thorp to go ahead

THE THORP nuclear waste reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria is likely to start operating early next year after the Government yesterday gave its blessing to British Nuclear Fuel's pounds 2.8bn project.

In a carefully worded statement to the House of Commons, which marks the conclusion of a saga dating back to the mid-1970s, John Gummer, the Secretary of State for the Environment, announced that he was tightening the limits on the amount of radioactivity which Thorp could discharge to the environment.

However, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth said that they would immediately challenge the decision in the courts.

Tighter discharge limit, page 9