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IAEA* FIGURES CONFIRM FAILURE TO CONTROL PLUTONIUM PROLIFERATION
Greenpeace publishes confidential plutonium figures on Website
8 May 1998
Figures available on the Web at:
http://www.greenpeace.org/~nuclear/stock.html
Amsterdam/Washington -- Plutonium stockpiles reported to the * International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna reveal that the stockpile of weapon-usable plutonium continues to grow dramatically and that controls to stem such growth are virtually non-existent. Greenpeace has obtained copies of the figures reported to the IAEA in December 1997 and is providing them on request.
The plutonium stockpile information shows that the amount of plutonium in Britain, France and Japan, all countries engaged in the reprocessing of spent commercial fuel, grew to a shocking 141 metric tonnes as of December 31, 1996. Given that 5 kg of plutonium is enough for a nuclear weapon, this amount is sufficient for almost 28,200 weapons.
The IAEA's "Guidelines for the Management of Plutonium" (INFCIRC/549, 16 March 1998) - agreed to by Belgium, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States - include reporting to the IAEA on plutonium figures from most of those countries. Rather than restricting in any way the production or stockpiling of weapon-usable plutonium, the Guidelines simply place limited controls over plutonium and actually affirms the right of countries to unrestrained plutonium stockpiling and use (1).
"The IAEA's plutonium management guidelines reflect the absolute failure of the international community to constrain the spread of nuclear weapons materials," said Tom Clements of Greenpeace International. "So-called safeguards on plutonium do not work; halting plutonium production is the only way to control proliferation of this weapon material."
The following figures for all types of unirradiated weapon-usable plutonium were provided to the IAEA: Japan - 20.1 Metric Tonnes (up from 16.1 MT in 1995), Belgium - 2.7 MT, United Kingdom - 55.7 MT, France - 65.6 MT (up from 55.5 MT in 1995). Switzerland and Germany did not report actual figures but rather reported general trends in use. The US report of 45 MT includes material recently taken out of military use. Russia failed to report any figures.
"While the US, UK and other countries are engaged in projects to secure fissile materials in the former Soviet Union, nothing is being done to halt the global spread of plutonium in other countries," said Clements. "New reprocessing contracts under consideration between Japanese utilities and BNFL and COGEMA will only result in more plutonium stockpiling: these contract negotiations must be halted."
Greenpeace has also obtained confidential figures on the amount of plutonium to be reprocessed for various clients of British Nuclear Fuels and COGEMA. As a service to the public and to show the extent of stockpiling weapon-usable plutonium, Greenpeace is today publishing many of those figures on its website (2). The figures come from a document prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy by NAC International and given anonymously to Greenpeace. Nuclear utilities which use plutonium fuel (mixed oxide or MOX) themselves present a proliferation risk as the plutonium can be easily extracted and made into a Hiroshima-sized bomb, according to Greenpeace.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
- Tom Clements, Greenpeace International, (Washington), t. +1-202-319-2506
- Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace International, (Amsterdam),t. +31-20-523-6222
- Luisa Colasimone, Greenpeace Communications, (Amsterdam), t. +31 20 52 49 546
2) Reprocessing figures for BNFL and COGEMA are also available on the Greenpeace Web site: http://www.greenpeace.org/~nuclear/stock.html