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news report
 Tuesday July 02, 2002 19:59 by -
 Greenpeace plan legal challange (From BBC News Online) The Environment Agency has ruled that a shipment of nuclear Mox fuel due to be returned to the UK from Japan is not radioactive waste The decision means that British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) does not need special authorisation for the cargo, as Greenpeace has claimed. The environmental group says it will ask the High Court for a judicial review of the decision to try to block the shipment. The Mox fuel was sent to Japan in 1999 for use at a reactor site, but rejected because Japanese authorities were concerned about the falsification of quality-control data by BNFL. The controversial fuel, which Greenpeace calls "faulty rejected plutonium", is due to be sent to Sellafield's Mox plant in Cumbria later this week. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Greenpeace's chief scientist Doug Parr said his group was challenging the decision in court. But he added that the legal system seemed stacked in the nuclear industry's favour. "Matters like the fact that this is the first plutonium-based shipment to go on the high seas since September 11th don't seem to be a legal way of challenging the ruling", he said. Environment Agency chairman Sir John Harman defended the ruling, but welcomed a court challenge. "I'm not surprised to hear that Greenpeace is likely to challenge this," he told the Today programme. He said security concerns about the shipment were not considered in the agency's decision and is covered by other regulations. "If we had said it was waste, and it needed to obey, so to speak, the transfrontier shipment rules, it's hard to see how the security measures could have been very much greater," he said. Foreseen use The ruling hinged on whether Mox fuel, which is short for mixed oxide plutonium/uranium, had any foreseen use. If it did, it could not be classified as waste. Mr Parr argued that the fuel should not be classified as useful, since BNFL plans to extract plutonium from it - something he said the UK already has too much of. A statement from the Environment Agency said the fuel will be loaded onto two ships and sent to the UK from Japan soon. |
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Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2It's about time this fuel was returned so that we can reprocess it and then send it straight back!
The fuel isn't faulty - so Greenpeace, get your FACTS STRAIGHT!
The fuel is very suitable for use in a reactor - the Japanese have even acknowledged this fact. It all boils down to a matter trust being lost between two companies... and BNFL have paid dearly for the actions of an inconsiderate few.
Shipping the fuel is SAFE - but I would say that sending it by aircraft over Ireland would be even SAFER!
Sellafield Employee,
If the fuel is not faulty why is it being sent back?
Why did the Japaneese company refuse to accept it?
Oh yeah it was part of the shipment of fuel rods which was subject to the falsified records by you buddies in Sellafield.