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Nuclear shipment crosses Atlantic

Greenpeace and Nuclear Free Seas Flotilla between Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands in the Tasman Sea wait for the two armed nuclear freighters The Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal to deliver their protest message. Enlarge Image

Flotilla stops nuclear shipment in its tracks

For almost a week eleven small yachts have been heading across the Pacific to demonstrate the huge public opposition to the shipment of highly dangerous nuclear cargo that is being transported across the Pacific en route from Japan to the UK. Now they are in position on the route of the shipment. But the two armed nuclear freighters seem reluctant to face the full glare of publicity.

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 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.

Greenpeace activists protesting nuclear power at Cattenom. Enlarge Image

Greenpeace defies plutonium secrecy ban

Greenpeace today informed the French government at a hearing that we will not remove information concerning nuclear waste transports from our websites. This defies an order from the French Ministry of Industry to treat all information regarding nuclear materials in France and their transport as state secrets. As a consequence, Greenpeace France and its staff may be facing jail and fines for informing the public about dangerous plutonium shipments.

Plutonium shipments cross France every 7-10 days. Enlarge Image

Terror targets exposed

A standard commercial truck with a shipment of reactor-grade plutonium approaches the Versailles tunnel, 15 km (10 miles) outside Paris. The driver, who makes the North-South run every ten days, sees nothing unusual as two tanker trucks carrying fuel oil pull into the passing lane alongside his Gendarme escorts. They never see it coming. As the nuclear convoy moves into the centre of the tunnel, the tanker trucks jackknife into the right-hand lane, crushing the light police vehicles and creating a wall on either side of the plutonium shipment. A third vehicle empties quickly; young men with metal cutters and automatic weapons run toward the truck.

Fishermen in front of the Mihama nuclear plant after the 1991 accident at the plant. Now a second accident has claimed the lives of at least four workers. Alternative energy sources like wind and solar would have avoided this pollution and death. Enlarge Image

Accident at Japan nuclear plant

A fatal accident has killed at least four people at the Mihama nuclear power plant in Japan. There was no leak of radioactivity but it is the deadliest accident in a catalogue of nuclear scandals in Japan.

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.

Looters in abandoned hangar at Tuwaitha nuclear centre, Iraq Enlarge Image

Vanishing nukes in Iraq

Mohamed ElBaradei warned the world today that nuclear assets in Iraq have been looted and nuclear materials have disappeared. Greenpeace made that warning more than a year ago when we located radioactive materials and returned them to the nuclear facility at Tuwaitha. Due to US resistance to the UN nuclear watchdog's return to Iraq, it has to rely on satellite images. We saw evidence of the UN concerns on the ground.

Jim Corr of Irish pop group the Corrs, takes the helm of a Greenpeace inflatable whilst lending his support to the nuclear-free seas flotilla. Enlarge Image

Sailing for our nuclear free future

As two British nuclear freighters near the Irish Sea with their deadly cargo of weapons-usable plutonium, a flotilla of small sailboats are getting into position to peacefully protest their passage.

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Latest Update

Latest Update
UPDATE 5th OCTOBER: Greenpeace activists have blocked the road to be used for transporting the US plutonium after its arrival in France. A truck, with "Stop Plutonium" and a nuclear bomb painted on its side, was bolted and secured to the main road between the Cherbourg military port and the state nuclear company Areva/Cogema reprocessing complex. Police have arrested seven activists. Six activists remain on the road block four are locked to the truck and two are inside the container under the truck. Check out the latest action with this video footage. Real Player (1Mb) Real player (4Mb) Oct 3: Our ship Esperanza is somewhere off the UK coast awaiting the arrival of the weapons-grade plutonium shipment from the US. The Esperanza will be at sea to support the Atlantic Nuclear Free Flotilla yachts which are planning to demonstrate against the deadly nuclear shipment.
More Check out constant updates at www.stop-plutonium.org Watch the video Real Media (3MB) Windows Media (5MB)