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news report
 Monday September 16, 2002 16:25 by (A) repost from bbc
 Two lightly armed ships carrying potentially weapons-usable material are sailing through the Irish Sea on their way to Cumbria. Protesters heading to intercept a shipment of British nuclear fuel on its way to Cumbria say they will not impede the course of two armed ships.
Greenpeace activist Mhairi Dunlop, on board the Rainbow Warrior, said they were determined to carry out a "peaceful protest". Map of Irish Sea area The British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) shipment has caused protests around the world since setting off from Japan on its 18,000-mile voyage in July. It is the first transport of its kind since the 11 September attacks on the United States. Environmental groups and governments of countries the shipment passed feared the MOX - mixed uranium and plutonium oxide fuel - could prove a tempting target for terrorists on the high seas. Ms Dunlop said: "The international trade in plutonium must stop. "It is unnecessary, it is not wanted and it is not needed. "We will be peacefully protesting against the two nuclear freighters. We will not be impeding the safe navigation of either ship but we will make sure that the ships see us." A second flotilla of protest yachts was heading for Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, to meet the shipment at its destination. Security risk BNFL's marine transport head Malcolm Miller, said: "We recognise that individuals and groups have the right to peacefully and lawfully protest about our activities. The company said it expected the two ships, the Pacific Teal and Pacific Pintail, to reach Barrow-in-Furness around 0900 BST on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for BNFL said the shipments did not pose a security risk. She said: "We've been carrying out these kind of radioactive transports for 30 years in complete safety and security." Another protesters, Des Llewellyn from Pembrokeshire, who is sailing on the Elkstone, said: "This shipment poses a huge security threat to the Irish Sea. There is now more chance of an attack on a nuclear facilty of vessel since September 11. "The UK government are making it easier for terrorists to make that attack by shipping nuclear material around the world." Nuclear fuel container being lifted Irish pop star Jim Corr, from the group The Corrs, is one of the protesters onboard the Greenpeace flagship vessel Rainbow Warrior. The ships are part of a purpose-built fleet carrying more than 200 kilos of mixed oxide nuclear fuel destined for BNFL at the Sellafield reprocessing plant. The cargo of fuel, which came from Sellafield originally, has been sent back from Takahama in Japan after safety records at the plant operated by BNFL were exposed as false in 1999. Mixed-oxide fuel is made by reprocessing spent uranium fuel rods from nuclear plants. The Sellafield plant separates the rods' plutonium radioactive waste from the remaining unused uranium. Recycled uranium and plutonium is made into ceramic pellets which can be used again in a nuclear power plant. BNFL said one fingernail-sized pellet could generate as much energy as a ton of coal caption 1 map more links/articles @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2260384.stm |
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Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2Why not just post a summary and link?
Even better, why not post a summary and link as a comment to one of the existing articles about the flotilla?
While the flotilla was keeping BNFL busy at sea, there were some interesting protests on land.
On Thursday a local father of two, Martin Wyness, took action against Sellafield in response to the MOX shipments and also BNFL's new advert campaign ("how will you REACT" www.sparkingreaction.com)
Mr. Wyness' reaction was to bring a trailer load of cow dung to Sellafield. He dumped some of it outside the newly refurbished visitors centre and help up a sign saying
"This is what it feels like to have SH** on your doorstep" a reference to the Nuclear site, which is close to his Cumbrian home.
Two days later, and in the darkness before the dawn, four dedicated Irish protestors made their reaction clear.
The four, Tracey Ryan, Richie Nagle, Barry O'Donovan and Chris O'Keefe climbed onto the roof of the visitors centre and locked-on after dropping banners.
The group had visited the centre previously and had been appalled at the white-washing job presented to visitors at the centre.
Banners were dropped from the roof proclaiming the building to be a "DISinformation centre" and calling on BNFL to "tell the truth".
There were also graphics suggesting that the nuclear industry, through it's incompetence and sheer madness had put our future "Up in smoke", and through it's losses had put taxpayers money "Down the drain"
The police were unable to unlock the protestors who stayed on the roof for more than ten hours before agreeing to come down.
The centre was closed for part of the day, but any visitors coming in were greeted by the banners, as well as chalk messages on the ground "Dun Anois E" "If you think Sellafield is safe look left" - to the Windscale reactor, scene of the 1957 fire.
At one stage there were about 40 police surrounding the centre, including memebers of local Cumbrian constabulary and the UKAEA (United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority) police.
I remarked to them that this was a waste of police power to watch 4 people, and within an hours their numbers had halved.
The support team on the ground also handed out leaflets to counter BNFL propoganda.
It was pointed out that, following the cancellation of contracts for MOX, the Japanese flag was no longer flying outside Sellafield.
Head of Safety for the site, John Clarke also turned up to show some people around.
He was not amused by the timing of the action, and was clearly embarrassed in front of his guests.
In keeping with BNFL's new slogan "how will you REACT" a message was left on the foothpath in chalk.
"You sparked a reaction, well done"...
The four protestors came down by 4pm and were arrested and charged under section 5 of the public order act 1986. They are not allowed within 12 miles of Sellafield, or Barrow, and are prohibitied from "interfering with BNFL vehicles or vessels"
Don't think a small group can't make a difference.
Let's see more protests. Sitting there won't change a damn thing.
Tim.