Greenpeace is to go to the High Court in an attempt to prevent British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) shipping weapons-useable plutonium half-way round the world from Japan to the UK later this week.
The faulty fuel, a mixture of plutonium and uranium oxides, contains 255kg of plutonium, enough to make 50 nuclear weapons. Nuclear scientists have confirmed that it would be relatively easy to separate out the plutonium in the discarded fuel to create a nuclear weapon.
Lawyers acting for Greenpeace will apply for permission to 'judicially review' the Environment Agency for its failure to treat the faulty MOX as radioactive waste, and follow the required procedure for nuclear waste imports (1). Greenpeace will also apply for a High Court injunction to stop the faulty MOX shipment leaving Japan this Thursday (4th July).
Greenpeace believes that the faulty MOX is waste since no use for it is foreseen. BNFL has told the Environment Agency that it intends to recover the plutonium and uranium within the faulty MOX but the UK already has huge stockpiles of both of these materials. The movement of radioactive waste around the world is regulated by international law and requires the agreement of en-route countries.
Greenpeace Nuclear Campaigner Pete Roche said,
"To send highly radioactive materials on a six week trip on the high seas was a stupid idea before September 11th, in today's context it can only be described is insane. They would be a floating target for terrorists".
"If this faulty fuel is returned to the UK it will simply be added to our already vast stockpile of radioactive waste. It makes far more sense for the faulty fuel to be stored as radioactive waste in Japan."
Two British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) ships - the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal - are en-route to Takahama, Japan to collect the consignment of faulty MOX bound for the Sellafield nuclear complex. 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 [2].
Greenpeace believes that the rejected MOX transport is dangerous, unnecessary and unlawful. There has already been international opposition from several countries concerned about the vulnerability of the shipment to catastrophic accidents and terrorist threats.
Over 30 countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and the South Pacific opposed the original shipment of the MOX fuel to Japan in 1999. If the return goes ahead it is almost certain to generate even greater opposition. Campaigners in Wales and Ireland are already planning to launch a protest flotilla to meet the shipment should it make it as far as the Irish Sea. Other protest flotillas are planned around the world.
Greenpeace's concerns are echoed by military analysts. A former top civil servant at the MOD has warned that the shipment would be coveted by Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. [3] The respected Jane's Foreign Report has described security on the lightly armed ships as totally inadequate [4].
Greenpeace will be asking the High Court for a hearing as soon as possible.
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace UK press office on 020 7865 8255
Notes to editors:
- Greenpeace says that the faulty and rejected MOX should be classified as radioactive waste, and should not be imported. No import of nuclear waste can happen without authorisation from the Environment Agency, who must ensure compliance with international law. The Environment Agency (England and Wales) has not authorised the shipment of the material to the UK, in accordance with the Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste Regulations 1993 (as amended) ("the 1993 Regulations").
- A total of 26 tons of plutonium belonging to Japan will be accumulated at the Sellafield site over the next five to ten years if existing reprocessing contracts are carried through. This is sufficient plutonium for as many as 5,000 nuclear weapons. If all of this plutonium were to be fabricated into MOX fuel it would amount to more than half a million kilograms of MOX, requiring between 25 and 50 sea shipments to Japan.
- William Hopkinson, former Assistant Under Secretary of State at the MoD.
- Jane's Foreign Report, May 1999 (quoted in Observer 9 June 2002).
