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Courts asked to halt plutonium transport

Plutonium freighter reaches Japan

When the armed British nuclear transport ship Pacific Pintail sailed into a Japanese port today, it was met by protests from local Japanese anti-nuclear activists and Greenpeace.

Plutonium freighter departs UK for Japan

Two armed British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) freighters left Barrow-in-Furness in northern England this morning, setting the clock ticking on the most controversial nuclear shipment in history.

British nuclear freighters depart Japan en route to UK

A British freighter carrying enough plutonium to make 50 nuclear bombs is now on route through the Pacific ocean. The ship will pass South Africa then up to the Irish sea before reaching its final destination at a nuclear reprocessing facility in Sellafield. Along its entire route the ship will face opposition by ordinary citizens in small boats and governments terrified at the prospect of an accident or deliberate attack.

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.