Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphédinsson said there is reason to discuss whether Iceland should be declared an area free of nuclear energy in light of the collision of a British and a French nuclear submarine in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphédinsson (right). Photo by Geir Ólafsson.
A bill to that end has been submitted to the Althingi parliament and Árni Thór Sigurdsson, chairman of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, has approved it, Fréttabladid reports.
“These submarines were engaged in a battle drill with some kind of a stand off. Incidents like these can create real danger,” Skarphédinsson said. He has requested a meeting with representatives of British and French authorities to discuss the matter.
Fridrik J. Arngrímsson, managing director of the Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners (LÍÚ), has expressed his view that Iceland should be involved in the effort to ban the movement of nuclear-powered vessels in the world’s oceans.
