The UK Government's approval, announced today, for a controversial new plutonium fuel facility at the Sellafield nuclear complex will increase the risk of terrorists seizing weapons usable material, Greenpeace has warned.
The group said the decision to give the go-ahead to British Nuclear Fuels' mixed oxide or 'MOX' fuel plant and its associated exports was "dangerously irresponsible and "an affront to the international community". On Monday, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called upon the world to work together to reduce the risks of terror groups obtaining nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Today's move ignores that call and extends the proliferation of plutonium around the world.Stephen Tindale, Executive Director of Greenpeace in the UK said,
"Expanding the global trade in plutonium is dangerously irresponsible, especially at a time of huge global insecurity. The Prime Minister recently acknowledged that terrorists might obtain and use nuclear weapons, which makes his move today to launch an export business in bomb-making materials both inconsistent and downright stupid."
"Other countries like Germany, Japan and the US are now halting nuclear transports and stepping up security at nuclear sites. Yet the Government here seems as ever hell-bent on supporting BNFL at any cost, even if that means plutonium shipments bobbing about like sitting ducks on the high seas. The on-board weaponry of these ships is no match for a determined terrorist. Just under a year ago the USS Cole, probably one of the best-defended ships in the world was attacked by terrorists in Aden, killing seventeen sailors."
The £70M MOX Plant, owned by state-owned British Nuclear Fuels plc, was built five years ago yet has lain idle ever since. In 1999, MOX was at the centre of controversy after workers in a pilot plant falsified quality control data for new fuel pellets. The ensuing scandal severely damaged BNFL's reputation world wide, especially in Japan where a trial consignment of fuel was about to be loaded into a reactor. Since then, Japanese utilities have refused to sign any contracts with BNFL.
Mr Tindale continued,
"Greenpeace also believes the decision itself is unlawful because BNFL has failed to show an adequate business case for the plant, as required under European law. We are consulting with our lawyers and, with Friends of the Earth, expect to issue proceedings very soon. Some may think that this is the end to the MOX controversy. In reality it is just the beginning."
Notes for editors:
[1] Plutonium as well as being used for weapons is a waste by-product from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. MOX fuel is an attempt to deal with this waste. It is made from a mixture of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide, the powdered form of these two compounds being combined into ceramic-like pellets. BNFL would like to sell this fuel to its overseas customers for use in nuclear reactors. The company has however only secured around 10% of firm orders for the plant's capacity.
[2] The lack of MOX contracts from Japan is particularly significant, as was recognised by BNFL's Executive Director, Norman Askew, in an interview with the Guardian, 15 September 2000: "Without Japanese orders we cannot justify opening the MOX plant. We have no time to finesse this: we have until about next January or February [2001] to convince the Japanese, otherwise we shall have to abandon the project." BNFL still does not have any Japanese orders.
[3] The Prime Minister, Tony Blair said in the UK Parliament on 14th September that for terrorist groups: "The limits are only practical and technical. We know, that they would, if they could, go further and use chemical, biological, or even nuclear weapons of mass destruction. We know, also, that there are groups or people, occasionally states, who will trade the technology and capability of such weapons. It is time that this trade was exposed, disrupted, and stamped out. We have been warned by the events of 11 September, and we should act on the warning."
[4] "Annan urges tighter curbs on germ and nuclear arms" Financial Times 02/10/2001 Mr Annan addressing the UN General Assembly called on countries to tighten laws governing the exports of goods and technologies used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.
Further information:
Contact:
Grenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255
