Safety issues around MOX fuelA new cloud over the Pacific?Another shipment on its way Bomb potential Accident waiting to happen Whose plutonium is it? Opposition in Japan En-route opposition to plutonium ships A new cloud over the Pacific? The nuclear threat continues to hang over the Pacific and Latin American region. In the past the French and British governments tested their nuclear bombs in the Pacific and Australia - as far as possible from their home countries. New Zealanders, Australians and Pacific Islanders were outraged. With protests and flotillas, they fought a hard-won battle to ban nuclear weapons testing in their backyards. Today Japanese, Australian and Argentinian governments are collaborating with France and Britain on the latest nuclear threat - shipments of deadly plutonium and high-level nuclear waste. Another shipment on its way In April 2002 two UK registered freighters, one of them armed, left the UK bound for Japan. There they will load a cargo of reject weapons-useable plutonium fuel, or MOX (mixed oxide) and return it to the UK. This cargo includes 255 kgs of plutonium - enough to make 50 crude nuclear bombs. The route the return shipment will take has not yet been announced. This MOX material was rejected by the Japanese in 1999 because the quality control data had been falsified by the producer - British Nuclear Fuels BNFL. In January 2001 the second shipment of MOX material to Japan took place, this time from the French port of Cherbourg. This was destined to be loaded into a nuclear reactor at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture in July 2001. The shipment was made from the la Hague nuclear reprocessing site on two British-flagged armed merchant ships, the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal - the same vessels currently at sea. The 2001 MOX shipment from France also lies unused in Japan due to a public referendum by the people of Kariwa which rejected the loading of the MOX into reactors. The Japanese Government plans to import over 45 tonnes of plutonium in the next 10 years from French and British nuclear reprocessing facilities. Despite having shipped more than 2100kg of weapons useable plutonium to Japan in the last 15 years not one kilogram has been used to generate electricity, and remains stockpiled in Japan. To transport this amount of plutonium in the form of plutonium MOX fuel will require up to 80 shipments. Bomb potential The return shipment will contain enough plutonium to construct at least 50 nuclear bombs (255kg). Although not classed as weapons grade, the US Government has stated that the type of plutonium in the MOX material can be used to make nuclear weapons. Japan's program of acquiring and stockpiling plutonium, the largest outside the official nuclear weapons states, is a significant contributor to regional tension in North-east Asia. The Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal have three 30mm cannons and 7 tonnes of highly explosive ammunition on board. Armed nuclear police will also be on board each ship. Accident waiting to happen An accident involving the release of even a fraction of the plutonium contained in one of these shipments could have a devastating impact on the region's environment and public health. Whose plutonium is it? The plutonium was produced from the reprocessing of Japanese reactor spent fuel at the British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) reprocessing facility in the UK. The plutonium belongs to Japan. Opposition in Japan As a result of the 1999 BNFL MOX scandal, the Japanese government, utilities and public lost confidence in BNFL and in the case of the public MOX fuel itself. One of the conditions for considering any future contracts between Japan and BNFL was the return of the reject 1999 fuel. Because of the scandal the quality control of MOX fuel produced by Belgonucleaire (part of the 1999 shipment) and Cogema (2001 shipment) have also come under increasing scrutiny in Japan and Europe. A public referendum in Kariwa where the 2001 Cogema fuel was to be loaded has rejected any loading of MOX fuel and the Governor of Fukishima has rejected loading of the other 1999 shipment into reactors in his prefecture and instituted an energy review. Currently there is a moratorium on MOX use in Japan. The poor nuclear safety standards in Japan have caused major concern especially since the country's worst nuclear accident in September 1999 when a criticality accident at Tokai-mura killed two nuclear workers and irradiated hundreds of local people. Japanese reactor operators, like their counterparts in Europe, are under intense pressure to reduce costs, which has led to the further erosion of safety standards. In 1999 alone, Japanese reactors experienced five loss-of-cooling-water incidents. Niigata Prefecture, including Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, has experienced a significant earthquake at level 4 on the Japanese scale this year. En-route opposition to plutonium ships The governments and parliaments of many countries oppose plutonium and other nuclear shipments between Europe and Japan. Opposition has come from Australia (opposition parties), the New Zealand government, the Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, the 14 governments of Caribbean organization CARICOM, South Africa, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Ireland, Malaysia, South Korea, Mauritius, and the nations of the South Pacific Forum. At the North Sea Ministers Meeting in Norway in March, Norway openly criticised the UK due to radioactive contamination of seaweed and shellfish along its coast which is believe to have come from BNFL Sellafield discharges. |