Norwegian environmentalists are protesting against the release of radioactive waste into the Irish Sea. Activists from the Neptun Foundation anchored their former Coastguard vessel next to waste pipes from the Sellafield nuclear re-processing plant in Cumbria. They want to stop technetium-99 being pumped into the sea. The group says the radioactive isotope, a by-product of nuclear reprocessing, is posing a real threat to Scandinavian marine life.

 A spokeswoman for the Oslo-based organisation said, "We are taking some documentation of the discharge coming from the waste pipes and want to stop the discharge with a non-violent protest. The first traces of technetium-99 were found off Norway in 1996 and the levels have increased since then. We are becoming really concerned about the build-up in our ecosystem. There is no danger in eating Norway's fish or shellfish at the moment, but if these levels do not decline we are concerned they will be badly contaminated." Green Party spokesman Dr Chris Busby, a nuclear biologist, said studies he conducted for the Irish Government linked the discharge of radioactive waste with cancer on both sides of the Irish Sea. He said concentrated levels of technetium-99 had been found in lobster, and the substance could be inhaled after it was brought ashore on fine particles of silt. A spokeswoman for Sellafield said the nuclear plant had spent 750 million pounds on the treatment of waste in recent years and the amount of technetium-99 discharge would be reduced by 80pc in 2012. The radiation caused by the waste was "dwarfed" by that created by everyday activity, she said, adding, "The effect on people is non-existent. We would not be allowed to discharge it if we were having health effects on local people, let alone people thousands of miles away."