GP Reveals Nuclear Waste To Be Shipped Through Panama Canal

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

GREENPEACE REVEALS THAT NUCLEAR WASTE WILL BE SHIPPED 
FOR THE FIRST TIME THROUGH PANAMA CANAL

Amsterdam, 13 January 1998 --  Greenpeace released today a
confidential memo from the French Government, which reveals
plans by the plutonium industry to ship high-level nuclear waste
from France to Japan for the first time though the Panama Canal,
the shortest and therefore the cheapest route (1).  This
controversial shipment will also be the largest ever of this
deadly nuclear waste by the French plutonium company COGEMA.

The document obtained by Greenpeace states that "on 23 January
the ship Pacific Swan will depart to Japan via the Panama Canal"
(2).  The British-flagged vessel - constructed in 1979 and last
used in 1993 -  is set to carry 60 containers of vitrified high-
level nuclear waste. In mid-March, the shipment will arrive at
the Japanese nuclear facility in Aomori Prefecture, on the north
end of the main Japanese island of Honshu.

"The plutonium industry is directly responsible for putting at
risk the people and the environment of en route countries with
these shipments. This industry should be immediately halted on
environmental and security grounds," said Tom Clements of
Greenpeace.  "En route states must not be subjected to the risks
of accident of such nuclear cargoes and we support their efforts
to regulate nuclear shipments through their territorial waters."

The threat of an accident involving shipment of nuclear
materials was demonstrated in December, when the ship MSC Carla,
which was carrying three cesium capsules inside medical
equipment, broke apart with loss of the nuclear material in the
North Atlantic (3).  The ship was bound from France to Boston,
US, and Greenpeace has called on French and US authorities to
investigate the accident.

Documents produced by Greenpeace and the Washington-based
Nuclear Control Institute show that, in case of a shipboard fire
or sinking of the transport vessel, both the environment and
public health could be placed at risk.  Especially hard hit
would be the fishing and tourist industries.  Such shipments
also pose the risk of sabotage, especially in narrow passageways
such as the Panama Canal.  

Governments throughout the Caribbean and Pacific have loudly
condemned such shipments in the past and have called on Britain,
France and Japan to avoid the region.  On 2 January 1998, the
government of the Dominican Republic reiterated in a public
statement its opposition to shipments near its coast.

The French Government document also shows that the US State
Department has been informed about the shipment.  The US could
halt the shipment through the Panama Canal as the canal is
operated by Panama Canal Commission, an agency of the US
Government. Greenpeace therefore calls on the United States
Government to restrict this shipment from the Panama Canal just
as it bars shipments of plutonium (4). 

end

Greenpeace on the Internet at http://www.greenpeace.org

NOTES:
(1) The route through the Panama Canal would take the shipment
off the coast of Spain and Portugal, through the heart of the
Caribbean Sea, near to Hawaii, the Republic of the Marshall
Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Guam. 
(2)  A copy of the French Government
memo is available on request. 
(3)  Stills of the Pacific Swan are available on the Web at 
http://www.greenpeace.org/ Stills and footage of the MSC Carla
are  available from Greenpeace Communication and US office. 
(4) Other contact numbers:  Nuclear Control Institute, 
+1-202-822-8444 (Washington); JNFL/Federation of Electric Power 
Companies, +81-3-3279-2182 (Tokyo); BNFL +44-1925-832000 (UK); 
COGEMA, +33-2-3302-6322 (France); Richard Stratford, US
Department of  State, +1-202-647-3310 (Washington)