Greenpeace Condemns N-Waste Shipment as `Titanic Mistake'

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

GREENPEACE PROTESTS JAPANESE NUCLEAR WASTE SHIPMENT AND
CONDEMNS REPROCESSING AND TRANSPORTS AS "TITANIC MISTAKE"

Cherbourg / Amsterdam, 20 January 1998 -- Greenpeace this
evening protested the imminent departure of a shipment of high
level nuclear waste bound for Japan from the French port of
Cherbourg.  The shipment of radioactive waste, arising from
plutonium separation or "reprocessing", is the first shipment of
such material which will travel through the Caribbean Sea and
Panama Canal.

Symbolising past shipping disasters, Greenpeace activists placed
8 models of ships (15-metre long) which have been involved in
shipping disasters (1) next to the dock from which the transport
will depart. Included in the protest display are the MSC Carla
(nuclear transport vessel that broke apart in the Atlantic in
November 1997) and the Mont Louis (uranium transport ship which
lost cargo in 1984).  Most poignantly, a model of the famous
vessel the Titanic was also placed on the dock where nuclear
waste is to be loaded on the Pacific Swan later tonight. In
1912, the Titanic stopped at Cherbourg on its fateful voyage for
New York.

" The threat posed by this shipment of high level waste to the
environment and to people's health is unacceptable. 
Reprocessing and associated shipments of nuclear waste and
plutonium is a titanic mistake and must be stopped," said
Yannick Rousselet of Greenpeace.

Citing the environmental and security risks involved, en route
nations have called on Britain, France and Japan to conduct and
environmental assessment of the shipments. Faced with the
shippers' unwillingness to do so, dozens of en route nations
have formally protested and opposed the waste and plutonium
shipments.

The British-flagged ship Pacific Swan - built in 1979 and last
used in 1993 - is set to load 60 containers of vitrified high-
level nuclear waste in Cherbourg.  In total, the waste weighs
approximately 30 tonnes and contains a staggering 1 million
terabequerels (30 million curies) of radiation.  Dozens of such
shipments are expected in the future.

According to a French diplomatic communique leaked to Greenpeace
and publicly released on January 13, the Swan will sail through
the Caribbean Sea and the Panama Canal on its journey to Japan. 

Although Greenpeace has published this information, COGEMA,
British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) and Japan Nuclear Fuels Limited
(JNFL) have refused to announce the chosen route and said that
they will only release the information one day after the
shipment departs Cherbourg.

On January 15, five US Members of Congress from Caribbean and
Pacific Islands called on President Clinton to block the
transport through the Panama Canal.  In addition, the
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, the governments of the
Dominican Republic, and the US Virgin Islands have protested
against the shipment. It is believed that protest from the
Caribbean and Central American region could force the route to
be changed. 

This shipment once again raises questions about the need for and
risk of the global trade in weapon-usable plutonium. Greenpeace
is committed to campaigning for an end to reprocessing and
against the use of plutonium. 

ENDS

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

NOTES:
(1) Titanic/ 1912, Torrey Canyon / 1967, Amoco Cadiz / 1978,
Tanio / 1980, Mont Louis / 1984, Exxon Valdez / 1989, MSC Carla
/ 1997, Pacific ? / ?. 
(2)  A map of the route, and 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. 
(3) Copies of statements of opposition are available on request.