Greenpeace Blog

There's a truly frightening story – and a sharp reminder that its failure to tackle climate change isn’t the only problem with nuclear power - in The Guardian today.

A mafia clan in Italy is accused of trafficking nuclear waste and trying to make plutonium (ie nuclear weapons). It's alleged, says The Guardian, "to have made illegal shipments of radioactive waste to Somalia, as well as seeking the 'clandestine production' of other nuclear material".

Eight former employees of the state energy research agency Enea, suspected of paying the mafia to take the nuclear waste off their hands, are also being investigated.

"An Enea manager is said to have paid the clan to get rid of 600 drums of toxic and radioactive waste from Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, and the US… with Somalia as the destination lined up by the traffickers… But with only room for 500 drums on a ship waiting at the northern port of Livorno, 100 drums were secretly buried somewhere in the southern Italian region of Basilicata."

The full story's here.

See all Kingsnorth updates.

After spending a full day locked onto conveyor belts inside Kingsnorth coal fired power station - potentially the site of the first new coal plant in the UK for over 30 years - most of our volunteers in the conveyor belt team were arrested last night, after E.ON served an injunction.

The small team at the top of the chimney (above) spent the night 200-odd metres above safe ground. They’re still up there but, having placed the ball firmly in Gordon Brown’s court on whether the UK faces a new coal rush, they’ll be starting the long climb down soon. It sounds as though spirits are high, if a little exhausted.

See all Kingsnorth updates.

Anyone with vertigo, look away now. This was taken a couple of hours ago, as climbers at the top of the chimney at Kingsnorth coal fired power plant finally went over the edge of the 200-odd metre high chimney. There's a knee-wobbling video of this moment on Moblog.

As I write, the climbers are still painting the side of the 200-odd metre high chimney. By first light, there'll be a message urging Gordon Brown not to give the green light to the first new coal fired power station to be built in the UK in over 30 years.

So far, two people - from the conveyor belt team - have been arrested, with the rest of the team likely to follow one by one (it's a slow business).

More updates to follow in the morning - in the meantime, here are a few of my favourite images from today:

See all Kingsnorth updates.

We've taken over Kingsnorth coal fired power station in Kent to send a message to Gordon Brown: don't bottle it on climate change by giving the green light to the first new coal plant in the UK for over 30 years.

Just after 5am this morning, 50 Greenpeace volunteers took over the plant. One group immobilised the huge conveyor belts carrying coal into the plant then chained themselves to the machinery. As I write, a second group is climbing a 200 metre ladder up the chimney, with supplies to hold it for several days and force it off the National Grid.

Why are we there?

Coal is the most polluting of all fossil fuels; it just isn’t fit for purpose in the 21st century. No new coal fired power station has been built in the UK in over 30 years but now Gordon Brown may be giving the green light to a new coal rush.