Home > Press releases > Archived press releases > 2001 > Mox legal challenge goes to court of appeal
Home > Press releases > Archived press releases > 2001 > Mox legal challenge goes to court of appeal
23 November 2001
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth will now take their battle to stop the MOX plant at Sellafield to the Court of Appeal. The move follows last week's ruling by Mr Justice Collins that the Government hadn't acted unlawfully in giving the highly controversial plutonium fuel plant the green light. The Appeal will be heard on 27 and 28 November.
Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace will argue that the costs of building a new nuclearplant must be taken into account when calculating whether a new practice iseconomically justified. The Government and BNFL had argued that the costs ofconstruction should normally be included in the calculations, but if they had alreadybeen spent they should be treated as irrelevant. In a suprising and controversialjudgement, Mr Justice Collins decided that because such costs would vary from site tosite they should never be included in such calculations.
As a result of the Judge's reasoning BNFL could apply for authorisation for a newpractice stating that it would generate a net future income of say 100 million. Thepractice would be treated as economically justified even if it required building a 300million plant, and would therefore in reality lose 200 million.
The MOX plant faces a number of other legal challenges. On Monday 3 December theInternational Tribunal for the Law of the Sea [ITLOS] is expected to rule on anapplication from the Irish Government for an injunction to prevent the MOX plant goingahead before ITLOS has had the opportunity to consider the case fully.
For further information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.
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