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Accident at Japan nuclear plant

Ian Cohen,MLC N.S.W Parliment, the Greens ,and crew member of the African Queen,one of the Pacific Peace Fleet Flotilla,Stuart Lennox, seen here in the water near the Pacific Teal, one of the two ships bringing plutonium through the Tasman. Enlarge Image

Protest flotilla success: plutonium ship intercepted

The plutonium transport ships are large, fast and bristling with guns and security personnel. But they balked at the prospect of passing a tiny flotilla of sailboats armed only with cameras, because it posed one unbearable risk: exposing a deadly and foolhardy mission to the full glare of public scrutiny.

Greenpeace activists Penny Gardner (UK) right and Irene Maggiulli (Italy) left atop the bow mast of their ship, the MV Esperanza, protesting the passage of a deadly plutonium shipment from Japan to UK. Enlarge Image

Plutonium on the horizon, planet on the line

A shipment of one of the planet's deadliest substances will round the Cape of Good Hope at about the same time world leaders are arriving in Johannesburg for the Earth Summit on Sustainable Development. We caught up with the British ship carrying the weapons-grade plutonium off the coast of Africa, but will we be able to get close enough to world leaders to remind them how unsustainable nuclear energy is.

Greenpeace and community organisations in Suva, Fiji demonstrate the Pacific people's opposition to plutonium shipments through the Pacific. Enlarge Image

Japanese nuclear safety scandal

Japan's largest nuclear utility has announced that there has been a safety cover-up for decades at its nuclear power plants. This is a devastating blow to an already embattled nuclear industry with global implications.

The two ships chartered by BNFL, the Pintail and the Teal depart Barrow, UK for Japan. Enlarge Image

Plutonium ships spotted

A year on from the September 11th attacks and it seems some governments have learnt nothing about true global security. Two ships carrying weapons-useable plutonium are nearing the end of a journey half way around the world, through waters of discontent and past small ships bearing witness. As the ships near home they will face their strongest opposition and be welcomed back by a nuclear industry that is showing cracks from coverups, bankruptcies and insolvencies, safety lapses and failures in plant security.

The nuclear free Irish sea flotilla, (made up of yachts and vessels from England , Wales and Ireland), supported by the Greenpeace ship SV Rainbow Warrior. Enlarge Image

Nowhere to run to....nowhere to hide

Two British freighters with their cargo of weapons-usable plutonium, are now in the home straight of an 18,000 mile transport of terror. As the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal near the Irish Sea on their journey from Japan to Barrow on England's north west coast, the full glare of the public spotlight is being prepared for their arrival.

The Nuclear Free Irish Sea Flotilla peacefully protesting against BNFL shipment of plutonium. Enlarge Image

Protest flotilla catches up with nuclear nomad ships

The Nuclear Free Irish Sea flotilla has caught up with BNFL's deadly cargo of weapons-usable plutonium in the Irish Sea. The dangerous and unnecessary cargo has been wandering the world's oceans for the past 75 days placing millions of lives and the marine environment at terrible risk.

BNFL ship Pacific Pintail arrived this morning to port with its cargo of rejected plutonium fuel at the end of its voyage from Takahama, Japan. Enlarge Image

Shameful shipment must be the last

As the two British nuclear freighters, carrying their deadly cargo of plutonium entered the port of Barrow this morning, they were again met with peaceful protests from the Nuclear Free Irish Sea Flotilla. How can those responsible for this dangerous and unnecessary shipment ignore the global protest ignited by the one just ended and sanction more?

Nuclear site in Takahama, Japan, under heavy guard for loading of rejected plutonium MOX fuel, which is being returned to the UK by ship. Enlarge Image

Nuclear plant cover-ups in Japan

In late August, news started to come out of Japan that TEPCO (Japan’s largest nuclear utility and the second largest in the world) had been cheating on reactor inspections for years. This brings them in line with their colleagues in the USA, Europe, Russia, etc. - whose problems with honesty and openness are already well known.

Aerial view of Rokkasho-mura reprocessing plant taken from Greenpeace sampling kite. Enlarge Image

New Japanese nuclear risk

Plutonium is the world's most deadly substance and an important ingredient of nuclear bombs. A new Japanese nuclear facility, soon to open, could produce as much as eight thousand kilograms of plutonium a year. But deficient safeguards at the plant mean enough plutonium to build several nuclear bombs could be stolen or diverted from the plant each year, a new Greenpeace report shows.

Greenpeace activists display 10 model wind turbines on the premises of a nuclear power plant in Penly, France in protest at the French government's decision to build another reactor on the site. Enlarge Image

No to new nukes: go wind

Since the French power authority has refused to build wind farms, we built our own this morning on the grounds of a nuclear power plant in Penly, France. We put ten wind turbines up to protest the French government decision to build another nuclear reactor on the site, despite a large nuclear energy overcapacity and the far more environmentally and economically sane option of investing in wind energy.

Despite unprecedented security measures, Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner off the Bosphorous Bridge to protest against NATO's irrational nuclear policy. Enlarge Image

Nukes out of NATO

The NATO summit and its attendant world leaders rolled into Istanbul this week. While the rhetoric is of peace, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) version includes a constant nuclear threat. We are highlighting the military alliance's hypocrisy in trying to 'make peace' using the threat of nuclear weapons.

Greenpeace activists spend the night waiting for the imminent arrival of two BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels) ships, which are carrying 140kg of radioactive weapons-grade plutonium. The Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal left the U.S. port of Charleston, SC on September 20th. Greenpeace believes the shipment conducted by the US and France is unnecessarily threatening international security and putting the environment at risk. Enlarge Image

Nuclear shipment crosses Atlantic

LATEST UPDATES: www.stop-plutonium.org
Thanks to the Bush Administration's disregard for global concerns about nuclear proliferation, two ships carrying some 140kg of weapons-grade plutonium are en route from Charleston, South Carolina, to Cherbourg in France. The two lightly armed UK-flagged commercial nuclear ships are now somewhere off the coast of France, waiting until a possible injunction is served against Greenpeace, to dock.

Activists onboard the Greenpeace ship, MV Esperanza, wait off the coast of France for the imminent arrival of two BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels) ships that are carrying 140kg of radioactive weapons-grade plutonium. The Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal left the U.S. port of Charleston, SC on September 20th. Greenpeace believes the shipment conducted by the US and France is unnecessarily threatening international security and putting the environment at risk. Enlarge Image

Terror cargo lands in France

After weeks of cat-and-mouse antics, the Pacific Pintail slipped into the port of Cherbourg with a deadly cargo of Plutonium -- but only after a French court ensured Greenpeace would be kept out of the way.

Norman Askew, Chief Executive of BNFL, is wanted for crimes against the planet. Enlarge Image

BNFL is wanted for crimes against the planet and the people of Sellafield

Norman Askew, chief executive of British Nuclear Fuels has a skewed perspective. He is "delighted" by nuclear power expansion, even as people living around the Sellafield nuclear plant die from unusually high rates of cancer. Askew and government owned British Nuclear Fuels are also violating countries national sovereignty around the world as they ship plutonium through national waters against countries’ permissions. The warrant for their arrest is long overdue.

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Latest Update

Latest Update: 10 Aug: Japanese police are investigating the Kansai Electric Power Company on suspicion of corporate negligence resulting in death. The company was told last year that the pipe was a safety threat but proper inspections were delayed. The pipe had not been thoroughly checked since it was installed in 1976. More from the BBC: Plant operators knew pipe was safety threat but failed to act.