Plut Ship to Possibly Round Cape of Good Hope

[The.Greenbase@gb.greenpeace.org]

>> PLUTONIUM WASTE SHIPMENT SHUNNED BY CARIBBEAN;

 
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                    GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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>> PLUTONIUM WASTE SHIPMENT SHUNNED BY CARIBBEAN;
   HEADS SOUTH IN POSSIBLE BID TO ROUND CAPE OF GOOD HOPE      
 
PARIS, March 7, 1995 (GP) After 13 days of tracking a the first
shipment of highly radioactive plutonium waste,* Greenpeace has
concluded that it will avoid a confrontational transit
through the Caribbean Sea and Panama Canal and could now take the
hazardous route around the Cape of Good Hope.
 
There can be no doubt that this routing is a response to
widespread public and government protest in the Caribbean against
the shipment.  The British-flagged ship "Pacific Pintail" is
carrying some 14 tonnes of highly radioactive nuclear waste from
France to Japan has bypassed the Caribbean and Panama Canal. 
Having turned aside from this favoured route, despite filing the
necessary papers to go through the Canal, the ship is now heading
due South through the Atlantic on a course between Africa and
South America.
 
Two years ago, similarly fierce Caribbean and Central American
opposition forced a shipment of weapons-usable, highly toxic
plutonium from France to Japan to be rerouted.  This
controversial shipment, onboard the ship "Akatsuki Maru", then
sailed around Southern Africa, across the Indian Ocean,
northwards between Australia, New Zealand and through a number of
South Pacific Island nations before arriving in Japan.  This
transport was opposed and banned by tens of countries around the
planet and in response subsequent shipment have been at least
temporarily suspended.
 
While the current high level nuclear waste shipment has been
banned by over 30 countries or territories, this opposition has
largely come from Caribbean, Latin American and South Pacific
Island nations.  
 
At the same time, it is believed that only two African nations
have issued protests so far: Ethiopia and Mauritius.  A strong
statement against the transport has been issued by Chairman
Mokaba of the South African Parliament's Select Committee on
Environmental Affairs but the government itself has not issued a
statement banning or condemning the transport which will
directly endanger South African shores.
 
"So far, this deadly shipment has been met with fierce opposition
by the peoples and governments put at risk," said Damon Moglen of
Greenpeace.  "It is clear that a bid to go around Africa is also
a bid to escape public and political condemnation.  African
nations must now decide whether or not they will accept the
passage of nuclear garbage through their waters."
 
The current transport onboard the Pacific Pintail involves
glassified high level nuclear waste generated in the course of
plutonium reprocessing in France for the Japanese.  The waste is
so tremendously radioactive that a person standing close to an
unshielded block of the nuclear waste would receive a
lethal dose of radiation in less than 60 seconds.  Over 100 of
these nuclear waste shipments could occur between France and
Britain to Japan within the next 15 years.
 
The transport are being conducted by British, French and Japanese
authorities under a veil of secrecy.  The timing, routing,
emergency planning and liability coverage for the shipments are
all being kept secret.  Governments of countries put at risk have
neither been informed nor involved in route planning or emergency
preparations for the transports.
 
"It is unfortunate that African nations have remained silent over
this issue as this silence could be interpreted as a weakness by
developed countries seeking dumps for their nuclear and other
toxic wastes," Moglen warned.
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Contact:
Damon Moglen, Greenpeace Paris: ++331-4770-1605
Karen Richardson, Greenpeace UK: ++44171-226-3151
Blair Palese, Greenpeace Communications: ++44171-833-0600
 
*Media interested in tracking the shipment's route daily should
access Greenpeace World Wide Web site at: 
HTTP://WWW.greenpeace.org/