Greenpeace Protests Dangerous Plutonium Sea Shipment for Dounrea

["Greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

GREENPEACE PROTESTS DANGEROUS PLUTONIUM SEA SHIPMENT FOR
DOUNREAY, SCOTLAND

Amsterdam/Bremerhaven, February 8th   Greenpeace activists early
this morning held up a cargo of plutonium and highly enriched
uranium reactor fuel (MOX) from leaving the German port of
Bremerhaven on the North Sea coast. At around 0.50 a.m. (local
time) activists occupied the mooring lines of the transport ship
Arneb, as it was about to leave for the Dounreay reprocessing
facility in the north of Scotland. After a stand-off with the
police around the vessel, ten Greenpeaace activists were
eventually arrested at 3.45 a.m. The ship left port with its
toxic cargo at approximately, 4.00 a.m.

The shipment was made just 3 days after a potentially
catastrophic derailment of a German nuclear waste train in
France. "It is obvious that the nuclear industry sacrifices
security and safety concerns for a quick and cheap way to get
the nuclear waste out of their backyard", said Greenpeace
International campaigner Shaun Burnie, "there is no
justification for dumping dangerous nuclear waste at Dounreay,
a site which is already an environmental disaster."

The plutonium left by truck from the Hanau nuclear complex in
southern Germany at 7.56 pm (local time) on Friday evening and
boarded the Arneb at Bremerhaven port at 12.45. This is the
third sea shipment on board the Arneb since November. Prior to
that date the same type of plutonium MOX was flown by aircraft
to Dounreay. Due to concerns about safety, raised by Greenpeace,
the Belgium goverment prohibited any further air shipments to
Dounreay in September 1996. The industry then opted for sea
shipments which carry their own hazards. "This ship was designed
to carry cars and bananas and not materials capable to produce
nuclear weapons" said Burnie. 

The plutonium MOX fuel in the current transport comes from the
abandoned KNK II experimental breeder reactor located at
Karlsruhe, in Germany. It is believed that the transport
contains 13.2 kg of  plutonium, as well as 18 kg of highly
enriched uranium, in a total of 40 fuel assemblies. A total of
240 assemblies are contracted to be processed at Dounreay. The
highly toxic plutonium MOX is unirradiated and was not used in
the reactor before its closure in 1991. 

The material - enough to produce at least 2-3 nuclear bombs- is
eventually to be processed at the Prototype Reprocessing Plant
(PFR) in Dounreay which is currently closed following an
accident in September 1996. A leak in the dissolver tank during
reprocessing operations allowed radioactive contaminated water
to leak into the sites waste water tank. The contanimated water,
contai-ning plutonium, americium and uranium was subsequently
flushed into the sea. 

"Dounreay is now seeking to increase its discharges of
radioactive waste into the north Atlantic so that it can bring
in more radioactive waste from Germany and other countries. This
is nuclear madness and must be stopped," said Shaun Burnie of
Greenpeace International. -ends-

video footage is available through RTC video productions ++49 40
85 33580, stills are available through dpa photo desk ++49 69 27
16 42 11 / 48 11

For more information contact: 
Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace International (Amsterdam) ++31 20 615
8342 Holger Roenitz, Greenpeace Communications (Amsterdam) ++31
20 5249 545  mobile ++31 6 53 23 84 75

Notes to editors:

The first sea shipment of this type of fuel to Dounreay was made
on November 16th, arriving in Scrabster port on November 18th.
The second shipment was made on January 11th, arriving Scrabster
on January 13th.