The Department of the Environment has ordered an internal investigation into why the public was not informed of planning approval for a major wasteprocessingplant near Londonderry.
In February, prosecutors accused the director of Mayak, Russia's main wasteprocessingplant in the Ural Mountains, of allowing tons of radioactive nuclear waste to flow into a nearby river.
When fully operational the plant would be capable of processing all domestic and non-hazardous commercial waste generated in the counties of Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend.