HIGH LEVEL WASTE SHIPMENT DEPARTS FRANCE AMIDST CARIBBEAN OPPOSITION

21 January 1998 Paris / Amsterdam

The Pacific Swan carrying high level reprocessed waste departed from the French port of Cherbourg at approximately 03h15hrs CET this morning, heading to Japan. It is expected that Cogema, the reprocessing company, will announce on Thursday the route to be taken. Greenpeace believes that the ship will travel via the Caribbean Sea and the Panama Canal.

Faced with the imminent threat of this shipment, Prime Ministers representing countries within the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States have issued a strong statement condemning the shipment, and have appealed to the international community to intervene.

"Cogema and their Japanese clients have once again demonstrated their disregard for the environment and the views of nations along the transport route", said Shaun Burnie of Greenpeace. "In the six weeks this shipment will take to reach Japan, Cogema will produce a further 1,600kg of plutonium at its reprocessing plants, together with vast quantities of radioactive waste. The plutonium problem is getting worse, and the environment will be the victim", Burnie added.

It is anticipated that the Pacific Swan will pass through Portugal's 200 mile Economic Exclusion Zone early Friday morning (23rd January). The shipment is expected to enter the Caribbean Sea towards the end of January. The most recent statement of opposition was issued on 16 January by Prime Ministers from Caribbean island nations, including St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

They stated that the shipment "seriously endangers the lives of the people of the region and also fish, other forms of wildlife and the environment and has the potential to fatally affect the social and economic development of the region".

The high level waste in the shipment belongs to the Japanese electrical utilities Tokyo Electric, Chubu Electric, Kansai Electric and Kyushu Electric. Greenpeace has learnt that during 1998 the first three of these utilities will aquire a total of 1,305kg of plutonium from reprocessing of waste at la Hague. This is sufficient for over 200 nuclear weapons.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace International, mobile +31 6 53500782 (Amsterdam)

Luisa Colasimone, Greenpeace Communications, mobile +31 6 53 66 29 70

Stills and footage of the loading and the departure available from Reuters - Paris

Stills and footage from the Cherbourg action (20.1.98, 18h00 CET)

available from AFP - Paris