One of the immediate impacts of Brexit is a withdrawal by the UK from Euratom. While Euratom is an external agency from the EU it is subject to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) something the Conservative government wants to say goodbye to. While the ECJ would apply in the transition period that would end in 2020 and at that stage an exit from Euratom will have kicked in.
The United Kingdom say they are committed to maintaining international safety standards vis a vis the nuclear industry but as long ago as 2018 the Irish main opposition party Fianna Fail described these assurances as ‘vague’ (link):
https://www.irishtimes.com/…/vague-assurances-on-post-brexi…
With a necklace of active or redundant nuclear installations around the Irish Sea this should be of interest to the Manx government as well but nothing as far as we can find has been said despite Chief Minister Howard Quayle’s ‘toing a froing’ to London.
There is a related link here which explains Euratom and its pan-european safety role:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w…/European_Atomic_Energy_Community
Some suggestions of a separate agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency based in Vienna were made at the time Brexit was mooted but as recently as October this year an IAEA team was suggesting further safety improvements – details at this link:
https://www.iaea.org/…/iaea-mission-says-united-kingdom-com…
It’s unclear if a formal agreement (Post Euratom exit) has been reached with IAEA.
Image: Springfields nuclear plant in Lancashire one of a necklace of nuclear installations around the Irish Sea.
Bernard Moffatt, Assistant General Secretary Celtic League (22 December 2019)
