A new report says there would be no observable health effects in Ireland from an incident at Sellafield.
The study was commissioned by the government and examined scenarios that could occur at the nuclear plant.
However it says an incident at the facility could result in an impact on Irish tourism and food sectors.
There have been long-standing concerns about the potential impact on Ireland of an incident at Sellafield on the Cumbrian coastline in North West-England.
The nuclear power facility is only 180 kilometres from Ireland.
However those fears have been allayed in this report published today by the Department of the Environment.
It concludes an incident there resulting in the release of radioactive material would result in no observable health effects here.
Many scenarios included in report
The assessment was carried out by an 8-person team of independent experts made up of nuclear physicists, chemists and engineers.
The possible scenarios they considered included an earthquake, a meteorite strike, a plane crash, terrorist attacks, fires and human error.
This report - entitled “Risks to Ireland from Incidents at the Sellafield Site” - is based on previously unavailable information which was essential to building up an objective and scientifically robust assessment of the risks to Ireland from Sellafield.
Environment Minister Phil Hogan said "My Department and others will now study the information in the report in detail and use it to feed it into Government policies relating to Sellafield and nuclear policy in the UK".
"Ireland must continue to be vigilant in relation to Sellafield as work to decommission the site over the lifetime of the “Sellafield Plan” continues".
"It is critical from an Irish perspective that the UK decommissioning of the site is undertaken safely and in accordance with best international practice" he added.
