An armed British nuclear transport ship, Pacific Pintail, was
met by protests from local Japanese anti-nuclear activists and
Greenpeace as it arrived today at the nuclear reactor port of
Takahama, Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast.
The ship, under guard from Japanese coastguard vessels entered
the port area at 09:00AM. The vessel is delivering an empty
transport container to the reactor site, where it is due to be
loaded within the next few weeks with rejected plutonium MOX
shipped to Japan by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) in 1999. After
being loaded into the container (cask) it is planned to ship it
back to the UK along one of three secret routes. (1)
The Pacific Pintail left the UK on April 26th, together with
another armed nuclear freighter, the Pacific Teal. Both vessels
passed through the Caribbean Sea, Panama Canal and across the
Pacific on their voyage to Japan. Governments in the Caribbean
condemned the planned shipment because of the lack of any
notification by the shipping states, Japan and Britain, as well as
the threat of terrorist attack and catastrophic accident. In the
last week former security experts, including a former senior UK
Government Minister from the Defense Department, have labeled the
shipment as vulnerable to armed attack.
Last week the 34 Governments of the Organization of American
States (OAS) supported and adopted a resolution that called for an
assessment of the security threats posed by nuclear transports
through the Caribbean Sea (2). Chile called in the British and
Japanese ambassadors on Thursday 6th June to convey its concerns
about the shipment.
The Government of Antigua and Barbuda at the OAS meeting made an
impassioned plea in reference to the planned plutonium MOX shipment
from Japan to the UK and called for an end to nuclear shipments,
"Our small states are fearful that a deliberate act of terror aimed
at those ships may bring an end to our very existence. This is not
fanciful or farfetched fiction."
While the Pintail arrived in Takahama, the Teal is expected to
head straight for a Japanese commercial port, probably Kobe. The
Pintail is expected to join it there, where during the next few
days or weeks the ships will take on provisions, as well as
anti-terrorist police from the UK. The security police are expected
to arrive from the UK just prior to the ships$B!G(B departure from
Japan.
"This plutonium MOX should never have been shipped to Japan in
the first place. Since BNFL lied to their Japanese customers over
the quality of this MOX, countries should be under no illusion now
that the bland assurances issued by BNFL, and the British and
Japanese Governments, that this shipment is safe and secure are
anything but irresponsibly complacent and lacking in credibility.
In fact, these shipments present a global threat to the environment
through risk of accident or deliberate attack. The fact that BNFL
and the Japanese are trying to make this transport under the cover
of the soccer World Cup only exposes further their contempt for
public safety. This shipment must be abandoned," said Shaun Burnie
of Greenpeace International.
In an attempt to stop the plutonium shipment, Greenpeace is
preparing a legal challenge against the UK Government.
Greenpeace yesterday announced at a press conference in Takahama
that the Arctic Sunrise, one of the Greenpeace ships, would shortly
arrive in Japan to join the protests agsinst this MOX shipment.
VVPR info: (1) The eight MOX assemblies containing 255 kilograms of weapons usable plutonium, as well as uranium, was rejected by Japan after it was admitted by BNFL that they had deliberately falsified vital quality control data for the fuel. The resultant scandal in Japan led to the suspension of plans to load commercial MOX for the first time in Japanese reactors. In 2001, encouraged by the BNFL scandal citizens in the village of Kashiwazaki-kariwa voted to block loading of a batch of French/Belgian MOX fuel delivered also in 1999. In total Japan has shipped over 2,300 kilograms of direct use weapons plutonium from Europe in the last 17 years. Not one gram has been loaded into a nuclear reactor and remains stockpiled at nuclear facilities throughout Japan. (2) The Thirty-four member states of the OAS met at the XXXII General Assembly in Bridgetown, Barbados June 2nd-4th, 2002. The OAS consists of: Antigua and Barbuda-Argentina-Bahamas-Barbados-Belize-Bolivia-Brazil-Canada-Chile-Colombia-Costa Rica-Cuba* -Dominica-Dominican Republic-Ecuador-El Salvador-Grenada-Guatemala-Guyana-Haiti-Honduras-Jamaica-Mexico-Nicaragua-Panama-Paraguay-Peru-Saint Lucia-Saint Vincent and the Grenadines-Suriname-St. Kitts and Nevis-Trinidad and Tobago-United States of America-Uruguay-Venezuela. By resolution of the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (1962) the current Government of Cuba is excluded from participation in the OAS.
Notes: (1) The eight MOX assemblies containing 255 kilograms of weapons usable plutonium, as well as uranium, was rejected by Japan after it was admitted by BNFL that they had deliberately falsified vital quality control data for the fuel. The resultant scandal in Japan led to the suspension of plans to load commercial MOX for the first time in Japanese reactors. In 2001, encouraged by the BNFL scandal citizens in the village of Kashiwazaki-kariwa voted to block loading of a batch of French/Belgian MOX fuel delivered also in 1999. In total Japan has shipped over 2,300 kilograms of direct use weapons plutonium from Europe in the last 17 years. Not one gram has been loaded into a nuclear reactor and remains stockpiled at nuclear facilities throughout Japan. (2) The Thirty-four member states of the OAS met at the XXXII General Assembly in Bridgetown, Barbados June 2nd-4th, 2002. The OAS consists of: Antigua and Barbuda-Argentina-Bahamas-Barbados-Belize-Bolivia-Brazil-Canada-Chile-Colombia-Costa Rica-Cuba* -Dominica-Dominican Republic-Ecuador-El Salvador-Grenada-Guatemala-Guyana-Haiti-Honduras-Jamaica-Mexico-Nicaragua-Panama-Paraguay-Peru-Saint Lucia-Saint Vincent and the Grenadines-Suriname-St. Kitts and Nevis-Trinidad and Tobago-United States of America-Uruguay-Venezuela. By resolution of the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (1962) the current Government of Cuba is excluded from participation in the OAS.