At around 5.30am today, amidst massive maritime security, the Greenpeace ship MV Arctic Sunrise bore witnesses to the delivery of the first cargo of weapons usable plutonium-MOX fuel to Japan from Europe. The fuel onboard the British flagged ship "Pacific Teal" arrived at the Fukushima nuclear plant on Japan's Pacific Coast. Carrying banners reading "Plutonium Kills" and "Plutonium = Destruction", the Sunrise was surrounded by 10 Japanese Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) ships carrying commandos in full riot equipment.
Despite being told that it was no longer entitled to "innocent right of passage", the MV Arctic Sunrise travelled within 3 miles of Fukushima and launched three inflatables also carrying the message "Plutonium Kills". Some 30 MSA vessels were in the immediate vicinity of Fukushima harbour. A message was read to the MSA stating Greenpeace's intention to conduct a "peaceful protest" which would in no way impede the safe passage of the plutonium ship.
The two ships carrying the plutonium fuel were forced to spend the past five days off Japan's pacific coast due to severe weather conditions. It is expected that the unloading of the MOX fuel will be completed by mid-afternoon today. The "Teal" is then expected to depart Fukushima and join up with its sister ship, the "Pacific Pintail"; the two ships will then travel through the Tsugaru Straight, heading for the Takahama nuclear plant, on Japan's west coast, to deliver the second load of weapons-usable plutonium-MOX fuel. The ships combined cargo of weapons-usable plutonium is sufficient for around 60 nuclear weapons (1).
The MV Arctic Sunrise was pursued into international waters by a compliment of seven MSA vessels and five helicopters. Once in international waters, all but one MSA vessel returned to Japanese territorial waters.
"This is only the first of a series of up to 80 plutonium fuel shipments between Europe and Japan that could take place over the next 10 years to 15 years. This weapons-usable material pose not only a risk of an environmental disaster in Japan, and along the entire 20,000 mile route from Europe, but it also threatens to spark a major proliferation crisis in the Asia Pacific region", said Kazue Suzuki of Greenpeace Japan, on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise.
Two weeks ago, confidence in European plutonium-MOX production was further undermined following the revelation that vital quality checks on MOX produced for Takahama by British Nuclear Fuel Limited (BNFL) had been bypassed and data sheets falsified. "There can be no confidence that this has been the only corner cut in plutonium-MOX production. Nor can assurances based upon a review of existing paper work conducted by two companies with a vested interests in claiming the fuel is safe [BNFL and Kansai Electric] be taken seriously", said Sanae Shida, Executive Director of Greenpeace Japan.
While the BNFL data falsification scandal has placed a question mark over the MOX fuel arriving in Japan today, it also underlines that plutonium-MOX fuel is inherently dangerous. Such are the risks linked to this material that even a small error in production could lead to a major accident when it is loaded into a reactor.
According to a new research by the UK-based Oxford Research Group (ORG) released last week by Greenpeace, plutonium-MOX fuel manufacturers and their Japanese clients are deliberately putting economics before safety (2). The report argues that European plutonium-MOX fuel manufacturers are failing to adequately test the distribution of plutonium in their MOX fuel, a failure that drastically undermines reactor safety.
An increasing number of Japanese nuclear reactor accidents in recent years have led to a growing public concern over nuclear safety. The use of MOX in reactors that were not designed for such fuel will increase the risk of accident and the health impacts associated with it.
The current shipment has also lead to a massive outcry of opposition from en route States. In keeping with the nuclear industry's tradition of shrouding its dangerous activities in secrecy, there has been no prior consultation or international environmental assessment into the risks of transporting plutonium fuel across the planet, threatening the environment and the health of millions of people. Plutonium is in fact one of the most deadly existing substances, known to cause cancer. Among those who have lodged strenuous objections with the Japanese, French and British Governments are: Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, Mauritius, Fiji, the South Pacific Forum, the Federated States of Micronesia, South Korea and, the Association of Caribbean States.
Greenpeace urges the Japanese Government and nuclear utilities to abandon their plutonium programme and concentrate instead on establishing an energy system based upon energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, which pose no threat to the global environment or international security.
Notes to editors:
1. The Pacific Teal has a cargo of 221kg plutonium, contained in 32 MOX (mixed plutonium/uranium-oxide) fuel elements, intended for the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. The plutonium fuel was reprocessed at the controversial La Hague nuclear complex in northern France, operated by the state-controlled company Cogema. It was then assembled into MOX elements by the Belgian company Belgonucleaire. The Pacific Pintail has a cargo of 225 kg of plutonium contained in 8 MOX fuel elements for use in the Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan east coast. The plutonium for Kansai, the operator of the Takahama plant, was reprocessed and assembled into MOX fuel at the infamous Sellafield site in northern England, operated by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). The two ships left Europe on July 21.
2. The inadequacies of quality control in the MOX fuel fabrication. Professor Frank Barnaby, Oxford Research Group/Greenpeace International. September 21st 1999.
Further information:
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