GREENPEACE SENDS CLEAR MESSAGE TO OSPAR MEETING – STOP RADIOACTIVE DISCHARGES NOW!

29 June 2000

COPENHAGEN -– At the OSPAR meeting in Copenhagen, government representative’s from 15 countries and the EU will today decide whether or not they suspend radioactive discharges from the nuclear reprocessing plants at Sellafield (UK) and La Hague (France). Throughout the night and this morning Greenpeace has been building a large wall of 500 barrels in front of the venue where the OSPAR conference takes place, sending this clear message to the delegates: "Ban nuclear reprocessing – Stop radioactive discharges!"

Greenpeace activists this morning began the closure of the radioactive waste discharge pipe of France's reprocessing facility at La Hague, from which over one million litres of liquid radioactive waste a day is spilled into the sea. On one of the two outlets of the pipe, Greenpeace divers have shut the valves of the special OSPAR (Object to Stop Pollution from Accumulation of Radioactivity) attached to the pipe the previous night. The OSPAR device divides the radioactive discharge into 6 separate streams, one for each of La Hague's client countries (1). Each stream has a separate valve, symbolising the ease of turning off the radioactive tap and ending the discharges.

"Greenpeace urges delegates to seize this historic opportunity to stop further radioactive pollution of the marine environment in the Northeast Atlantic," said Remi Parmentier, Greenpeace International’ s representative to the OSPAR commission. Greenpeace believes that the adoption of the proposal from the Danish government to ban nuclear reprocessing will put maximum pressure on France and the UK to stop their radioactive discharges.

In 1993, the dumping of nuclear waste from ships, aircraft and platforms was banned, but this agreement did not cover radioactive discharges into the sea from land-based nuclear reprocessing facilities. The Danish proposal that will be considered today is "a common sense step to harmonise international law," says Remi Parmentier.

Greenpeace recently documented the radioactive legacy of dumping nuclear waste in 200 litre barrels at the Hurd Deep dump site, just 15 km from Cap La Hague. But the amount of radioactivity being discharged from Sellafield and La Hague in one day is the equivalent of some 100 of the barrels dumped at Hurd Deep.

"During this five-day OSPAR meeting, the equivalent of 500 barrels of radioactive waste from the Hurd Deep dump site will have been poured into the marine environment," says Parmentier. "The time is ripe to finally to stop this deliberate radioactive pollution. If the vote takes place today, France and the UK will have to take seriously the concerns of the countries whose shores are being polluted by radioactive wastes."

Greenpeace has been campaigning for decades to stop dumping and discharges of radioactive waste. Nuclear reprocessing is by far the largest source of deliberate radioactive marine pollution, and dry storage of spent nuclear fuel is both a cheaper and a safer alternative to reprocessing. By applying the dry storage option, the threat of proliferation of nuclear weapons will also diminish as it would stop the production of plutonium.

During the OSPAR meeting Greenpeace has been broadcasting live images of the La Hague underwater discharge pipe, on the Internet as well as directly onto a large TV screen at the OSPAR meeting conference. "We have shown that radioactive discharges have been increasing, and have not been ‘substantially reduced’ as the UK and France both promised two years ago," says Parmentier. "The operators of the nuclear reprocessing facilities, with the support of the French and UK governments, have been cheating and they must face the consequences."

On Wednesday night COGEMA – the company that owns and operates La Hague – admitted to having cut "by accident" the transmitting cable of the Greenpeace webcam. But by Thursday afternoon Greenpeace divers had managed to repair the connection. The live transmission now shows the discharge pipeline equipped with a Greenpeace 'OSPAR device' – Object to Stop Pollution from Accumulation of Radioactivity – that divides the radioactive discharges into six separate streams, representing each of La Hague’ s client state. The six countries which contribute to the La Hague radioactive discharge operation are France, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- RemiParmentier, Greenpeace International, mobile +45 22 7238 63 (in Copenhagen)
- Luisa Colasimone, Greenpeace Communications, mobile +31 621 29 69 20 (in Paris)
- Dan Hindsgaul, Greenpeace Communication, mobile +45 28 1090 21 (in Copenhagen)

Stills and video available from: +31 653819121 (stills) or 31653504721 (footage)

Further information from www.greenpeace.org/~nuclear/ospar2000/ and
www.cogemalahague.fr/

(1) Cogema's clients are France, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.