The Pacific Pintail, an armed British-flagged nuclear transport
ship, entered the Panama Canal at 4.30pm local time, guided by
three armed patrol boats and an army helicopter. Armed police
prevented Greenpeace campaigners, Panamanian citizens and local
media from observing the ship entering the Gatun Lock.
Greenpeace urged en route countries to oppose the shipment
before it returns with faulty mixed oxide (MOX) plutonium (1).
Threatened countries are prompted to take action to prevent the
ships entering their Economic Exclusion Zones (EEZ). The Pintail
will continue its controversial voyage to Japan as the second armed
nuclear transport ship, Pacific Teal, transits the Canal in a few
days when it is planned to join the Pintail in Japan as part of a
two-ship mission to retrieve the plutonium MOX.
The Public Relations Office of The Panama Canal Authority stated
that the passage of the ships would not be made public for security
reasons, although the three 30mm cannons on the Pintail are
concealed during the 8-hour transit of the Panama Canal. The ships,
which departed England together on April 26, are on a journey to
recover and return to Britain a rejected consignment of plutonium
MOX shipped by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to Japan in 1999.
Originally it was intended to use the MOX as fuel in the Takahama
nuclear reactor. The MOX waste contains 255 kilograms of
weapons-usable plutonium, enough for 50 nuclear weapons.
"Countries along possible routes of the return plutonium
shipment must immediately protest against this unnecessary and
provocative transport by BNFL. It is not too late to stop this
transport from taking place but time is running out," said Tom
Clements of Greenpeace International, who was detained while
attempting to observe the Pintail's transit through the Gatun Lock
near the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. "En route
countries face all the risks and receive no benefits of a deadly
cargo best left in Japan to be managed as nuclear waste."
An empty cask to transport the MOX waste was loaded on the
Pintail just before its departure from England. Japan, which has
been engaged in a failed decade-long effort to use MOX fuel,
rejected the MOX for the Takahama reactor after it was revealed
that BNFL's manufacture of it did not meet critical quality control
safety specifications, and it was revealed that BNFL had
deliberately falsified vital safety data.
The return voyage of the two ships could begin as early as the
second half of June. The two lightly-armed vessels will endeavour
to protect one another from attack aimed at stealing the weapons
material on board or using explosives against the ship which could
disperse large amounts of radiological material. In spite of the
heightened concern caused by the September 11th attack, the
shippers have failed to prepare a security threat assessment on the
shipment.
The transit of the vessels is taking place before the
Environment Committee of the Panamanian Legislative Assembly meets
to debate a law banning all transit through the Panama Canal of
radioactive waste and plutonium. That law appears to have Committee
support but will be hotly debated in the full assembly. Britain,
France and Japan, all of which engage in state-supported nuclear
transport, have applied pressure to Panama not to ban the
shipments.
The shipment runs contrary to various provisions of the 1982
United Nations Law of the Sea Convention. This includes lack of
preparation of an environmental impact assessment; lack of prior
consultation with en route states; and lack of a liability regime
needed in case of damage resulting from accident or radiological
sabotage.
It is unknown, which return route will be used for the
transport, but countries along the three possible routes will be on
alert for incursions into their territorial waters and Exclusive
Economic Zones. The Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed in late
January that three potential routes are under consideration: 1) via
Panama and the Caribbean; 2) between Australia and New Zealand and
via the Africa's Cape of Good Hope; or 3) via South America's Cape
Horn. Both the Panama Canal and Cape of Good Hope route via the
South Pacific have been used for plutonium transports. All three
routes have been used for the transport of high level waste.
Notes: (1) Plutonium Mixed Oxide (MOX) - "MOX" stands for Mixed Oxide fuel, made of both plutonium and uranium mixed together. Plutonium is created in nuclear reactors, it does not occur naturally. The uranium used is usually freshly mined uranium and not the uranium recovered by reprocessing. Reprocessed uranium still contains small amounts of radioactive waste and many nuclear power companies won't use it in their reactors. The plutonium and uranium are mixed together as a powder and then turned into a ceramic fuel pellet (2cm high by 1cm wide). About 300 pellets are loaded into 3 metre long metal fuel pins.