Greenpeace reveals that the BNFL plutonium ships breached the Federated States of Micronesia's 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) at 9.50 am local time this morning in direct contravention of that nation's stated wishes. The shipment of rejected plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel is in transit between Japan and the United Kingdom.
Government plans announced today, to deal with the rapidly increasing radioactive waste mountain could make the problem much worse Greenpeace warned. The creation of a new authority to bail out the nuclear industry from the £8 billion bill for cleaning up waste and decommissioning old power stations, will free the bankrupt British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to expand its nuclear business and create more deadly radioactive waste.
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 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.
Greenpeace received eleventh hour assurances last night from British Nuclear Fuels Ltd that made it unnecessary for the group to seek an injunction in the English High Court. Greenpeace wants to prevent BNFL from taking irreversible steps that might prevent important safeguards, designed to protect the public, applying to the loading of faulty plutonium - MOX fuel onto a ship bound for the UK from Japan.
