May to avert nuclear fallout ahead of Brexit repeal bill

Bloomberg

The UK is preparing a departure from Euratom that will keep disruptions to a “minimum,” as the government moves to quell concerns that ending European nuclear cooperation could put cancer patients at risk.
The assurances came from Energy Minister Richard Harrington during a debate in Parliament on Wednesday. The transportation of radioactive materials used to diagnose and treat cancer has become grounds for a potential rebellion by Conservatives opposed to Brexit and PM Theresa May’s hard approach to it.
“Our primary aim throughout these will be to maintain our mutually successful civil nuclear cooperation with Euratom and the rest of the world,” Harrington said. “We’re preparing the nuclear safeguards bill, we’re opening negotiations with the EU, we’re talking to third countries about bilateral agreements, and finally of course we’re talking to the International atomic Energy Agency.”
The issue is coming to a head as the government presents the repeal bill that will graft European Union statutes into UK law books and mark the moment when the British are taking control of their legal destiny. Deprived of her majority in last month’s election, the premier relies on party loyalty and the votes of 10 Democratic Unionists from Northern Ireland to pass legislation.
The government will publish three Brexit position papers, including on Euratom, ahead of the bill’s presentation to the House of Commons. During the debate, at least six Tories spoke out in favor of retaining Euratom membership or of brokering an associate agreement with the body.
Trudy Harrison, a Tory lawmaker, said 76% of jobs in her constituency in northern England depend on the nuclear industry and that continued membership of the treaty is “absolutely vital.”