Greenpeace today condemned as "misguided" plans by a Japanese electricity company to return to Britain a controversial cargo of plutonium reactor fuel, whose delivery sparked international protests last year.
The dramatic decision to return the 'MOX' (plutonium-uranium mixed oxide) fuel is a significant embarrassment for the Japanese and British nuclear industries and their governments, which were both rocked by nuclear scandals and accidents during 1999.
Greenpeace believes that the Japanese government should keep the MOX fuel in Japan, treat the plutonium contained in it as nuclear waste and preclude its use for military or commercial purposes.
According to press reports, the Japanese nuclear utility Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) announced yesterday (January 11 th ) that it will return the cargo of MOX reactor fuel, which was sent by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) in 1999.
KEPCO authorities acknowledged that the fuel, containing 225kg of weapons-usable plutonium, would be returned because BNFL had covered-up and lied about its failures to assure the quality of the nuclear fuel. This followed the disclosure that BNFL workers had falsified and manipulated quality control data during the fuel manufacturing.
The 1999 shipment of plutonium fuel from Britain and France to Japan, the first of its kind, set off a wave of international opposition and controversy. Dozens of countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and the South Pacific protested against the transport and numerous nations forbade it from entering the waters under their jurisdiction.
The international controversy was based on the risks posed by the MOX to the environment, public health and safety and the cause of nuclear non-proliferation (the plutonium contained in the MOX fuel is direct-use nuclear weapons material).
"The first plutonium shipment from Europe to Japan was totally unjustified and threatened the safety and security of people around the globe," said Pete Roche, Greenpeace Campaigner.
"Now the Japanese government and industry are saying that they want to send this plutonium back because it is unsafe to use in Japan--what about the millions of people they put at risk with these reckless and unnecessary shipments? This transport should not take place and Japan should take this opportunity to publicly accept that their plutonium program is in a mess and should be terminated."
He continued, "Japan has played an important role as a champion of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. However, its plutonium program and its growing stockpile have not only undermined this role but they also threaten the international non-proliferation regime itself,"
"Japan should turn this embarrassing incident into an opportunity to renounce its own plutonium ambitions. It should discontinue its domestic plutonium program and renounce all contracts with the French and British state-controlled plutonium facilities."
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