BNFL Pacific Pintail leaving Takahama Port on 4 July loaded with rejected plutonium. The vessel will,within days, pass the place where the British Navy destroyer HMS Nottingham ran aground
The grounding of a British Navy destroyer on Lord Howe in the
Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand has raised further
doubts about the safety and security of the plutonium shipment it
was alleged to be escorting (1). The cargo of rejected plutonium,
left Japan bound for the UK on July 4th. On board is enough
material to make fifty nuclear bombs and the ship is due to pass by
the same point within the next two weeks.
"Shipments of rejected plutonium will be in the Tasman Sea in a
matter of days and in the last week bad weather has grounded the
HMS Nottingham and devastated the Federated States of Micronesia,
said Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace International Nuclear Campaigner.
"You have to seriously wonder if those who are making the decision
to send these ships through this region in the middle of winter
know what they are doing."
En-route countries have also cited major security threats as
reasons why this plutonium shipment should not enter the waters,
the latest being the Federated States of Micronesia. A Nuclear Free
Flotilla was sent off from Auckland, New Zealand yesterday with the
full backing of Prime Minister Helen Clark. A similar send off was
given to yachts sailing from Sydney Harbor. They are bound for the
waters around Lord Howe Island through the treacherous Tasman Sea,
where they are scheduled to protest the passage of the British
Nuclear Fuels vessels, the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal.
A member of the United States Congress Armed Services Committee
has already cited the vulnerability of this shipment in the
aftermath of events of September 11th, and has referred the matter
to the U.S. Pacific Command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (2)
The UK Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Nottingham is on
duty to serve wider British interests from "Japan to Australasia".
The two lightly armed transport ships, Pacific Pintail and Pacific
Teal, are transporting the rejected plutonium MOX from the nuclear
reactor site at Takahama, Japan to Sellafield in the UK. The cargo
was shipped to Japan in 1999. However, it was later revealed that
the company, which produced the faulty MOX, British Nuclear Fuels
(BNFL), had deliberately falsified vital safety quality control
data for the MOX pellets.
Due to the falsification scandal it was never used. The Japanese
owner of the MOX, and the Japanese Government rejected it and
demanded that it be returned to Britain.
British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) together with the UK Government is
hoping that with the return of the rejected falsified plutonium MOX
fuel Japanese nuclear utilities will sign multi-million dollar
plutonium MOX contracts.
The Japanese Government has stated that the transport is the
responsibility of the UK, and a private commercial matter between
BNFL and the owners of the rejected MOX, Kansai Electric. However,
BNFL has recently declared itself bankrupt and Kansai Electric has
stated that they are not responsible for costs in the event of an
accident. The Nottingham is now reported to be leaking its fuel oil
into the pristine waters around Lord Howe Island.
"If this was the plutonium ship Pintail on the rocks rather than
a Royal Navy destroyer it would be more than fuel oil that would be
leaking into the ocean. Its yet another reason why this trade in
bomb material must be stopped," said Shaun Burnie of Greenpeace
International in Tokyo. "The shipment of the rejected MOX to Japan
in 1999 was wholly unjustified. Now in a desperate attempt to
rescue BNFL's reputation and business prospects in Japan, a British
warship has been sent to the Tasman Sea. Instead of rescuing BNFL,
the armed escort itself is now the center of an international
rescue effort. This accident reveals the level to which the UK and
Japanese authorities will go to continue their trade in
weapons-usable plutonium. Full disclosure on what exactly the
Nottingham was doing in this area at this time needs to be provided
immediately," said Burnie.
Notes: For maps of the Pacific Route to be taken by the Pintail and Teal, and background documents, statements please see: http://archive.greenpeace.org/~nuclear/bnfl/home.html1 - ITN's Channel Four News, Sunday 7th July.2 - Representative Underwood see June 11th letter cited in Press statement June 17th at http://www.house.gov/underwood/news-releases/02/0617020.htmlFor updates, photos and biography's of those in the flotilla sailing into the Tasman see www.nuclearfreeflotilla.org