The British Government is being called to abandon its out-of-date nuclear energy programme.

SDLP South Down MP Margaret Ritchie said only this year, large cracks were discovered in concrete tanks surrounding volatile nuclear waste storage ponds.

She said: "Revelation after revelation about the scale of the problems facing the Sellafield plant seems to have had no impact on the nuclear juggernaut at the heart of this government’s energy plans.

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"The consortium previously tasked with decommissioning the site described the conditions as 'extraordinarily vulnerable, and in facilities that are well past their designated life'. While the National Audit Office has admitted that it poses 'significant risks to people and the environment'. The haphazard approach to decommissioning Sellafield has seen a scattergun-like waste of taxpayer money running into billions of pounds.

"The Government must urgently reconsider the path it treads on nuclear energy policy."

(CD)