Greenpeace's application to stop a dangerous cargo of faulty plutonium fuel from leaving Japan is to be heard at the High Court tomorrow morning (4th July 2002).
Hearing Time: 10.30am
Judge: Mr Justice Baker
Court number 10, High Court, The Strand.
Greenpeace has applied for a High Court injunction against British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to stop the imminent departure of two BNFL ships carrying enough weapons useable plutonium to make fifty bombs. The ships are expected to depart for the Sellafield nuclear complex with their dangerous cargo of faulty MOX (mixed plutonium and uranium oxide) sometime on Thursday.
Greenpeace has also applied for permission to judicially review the Environment Agency's decision not to classify the fuel, which has been rejected as faulty and unusable, as radioactive waste. As waste the faulty fuel would be subject to international regulations and en-route states would have to be consulted. Greenpeace believes the rejected fuel is waste because BNFL has no 'foreseen' use for it.
Nuclear scientists have confirmed that it would be relatively easy for someone to separate out the plutonium in the discarded fuel to create a nuclear weapon. Military analysts have warned that the ships are inadequately protected and that the cargo would be coveted by Saddam Hussein or al-Qaeda
The rejected fuel caused a diplomatic incident between the Japanese government and BNFL in 1999 when it was revealed that BNFL workers had falsified key safety data. The Japanese rejected the MOX and are insisting that the faulty material must be returned to the UK before they will sign any contracts with BNFL to buy more fuel from their new £70m Sellafield MOX plant. There has already been international opposition from several countries concerned about the vulnerability of the shipment to catastrophic accidents and terrorist threats.
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255
