05
March 2009 - International — The largest
shipment of deadly plutonium in history
is about to leave the French port of Cherbourg
- final destination Japan. We’ve taken action
to send the message that this is yet another
glaring example of the unacceptable risks
posed by nuclear energy.
Greenpeace activists
in France have tracked the shipment which
contains 1.8 tons of plutonium Mixed-Oxide
(MOX) fuel. This is enough to make 225 nuclear
weapons, each more powerful than the bomb
that devastated Nagasaki.
We’ve demonstrated with
distress flares and “Stop Plutonium” banners
at the Cherbourg port. We projected a “target”
symbol and “Nuclear Madness made in France”
onto the nearby state owned AREVA reprocessing
plant in La Hague, where the MOX was produced.
Our activists also projected the same messages
onto the trucks carrying the deadly cargo
to Cherbourg.
Our position is simple.
The world needs an immediate ban on MOX
shipments.
Two ships, the Pacific
Heron and Pacific Pintail will be used to
transport the radioactive cargo. They will
leave on March 6, just after departure AREVA
will reveal which route the deadly waste
will take to Japan.
Mox – a deadly fuel
One of the biggest dangers
of plutonium is that it can be used to make
nuclear weapons. MOX increases the dangers
of nuclear proliferation, as the plutonium
in it is easier to extract for weapons use
than plutonium in spent nuclear fuel.
There is also plenty
of evidence showing that the containers
used to transport the MOX are not strong
enough to withstand serious accidents or
terrorist attack. Risk of fire is just one
example, the containers are only tested
over a few hours, but fires on board ships
can last much longer (days or even weeks).
Once MOX fuel disperses it poses a grave
threat to public health and the environment.
Referring to a plutonium
shipment in 2002, the Government of Antigua
and Barbuda stated "our small states
are fearful that a deliberate act of terror
aimed at those ships may bring an end to
our very existence. This is not fanciful
or farfetched fiction."
Considering all this, it is little wonder
that plutonium and MOX shipments have been
opposed by dozens of governments and their
citizens, since they started.
AREVA is denying the
risks of proliferation
AREVA denies that there
is any proliferation risk by claiming a
false distinction between “military grade”
and “civil grade” nuclear material. The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
thinks differently classifying commercial
plutonium MOX fuel as Category 1 nuclear
material, requiring the highest level of
security protection.
In fact, the world now
has more weapons usable plutonium in civil
nuclear programmes than in all nuclear weapons
arsenals.
Along with the Japan’s
Citizens Nuclear Information Center and
Green Action organisations we’ve written
to Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA
warning him that AREVA is either dangerously
confused, or is deliberately misrepresenting
the proliferation threat posed by the fuel.
We’ve also sent letters
to the governments of countries that may
be en route, warning them of the potential
dangers to their populations and environment;
and urging them to take a stand.
The most likely route of the MOX shipment
is via South Africa and across the Tasman
Sea between New Zealand and Australia, and
through the coastal waters of South Pacific
nations. Other possible routes are via the
Caribbean and Panama Canal or via South
America and Cape Horn.
Japan has been failing
to use MOX for their nuclear reactors for
over a decade
Japan has been trying
to use MOX in their nuclear reactors for
more than ten years; and have repeatedly
failed.
The first shipment to
Japan in 1999 ended in fiasco after the
producer, UK state company British Nuclear
Fuels, admitted it had deliberately falsified
vital quality control safety data. After
an 18,000-mile voyage, the rejected fuel
was shipped back to the UK. Two more cargoes,
one delivered in 1999, the other in 2001,
were opposed by local citizens and regional
governments. Both shipments remain in storage
with no prospect that they will ever be
used.
Enough already, stop
the Nuclear madness!
It’s not as though anything
has changed. Shipping MOX remains as dangerous
as ever. Governments across the world have
recognised the threat and in 2005 a moratorium
on all nuclear transports was tabled at
a UN summit. It’s time to make that resolution
a reality.
Despite the best efforts
of the nuclear industry to convince us otherwise,
the simple truth is that you can’t separate
“civil” nuclear from nuclear used for weapons.
They are two parts of the same extremely
dangerous whole.
As for industry claims
that nuclear power can be used in the fight
against climate change, the opposite is
true. Nuclear power is too little, too late,
too dangerous. In fact, it undermines the
true solutions to climate change by diverting
urgently needed resources away from renewable
energy and energy efficiency.
We will be following
the MOX shipment on our nuclear reaction
blog, sign up for updates.
