Ten Plutonium Cargoes A Year Go Via Cape Good Hope

Ten Plutonium Fuel Cargoes A Year To Go Via Cape Of Good Hope: Greenpeace Urges En Route Nations To Ban These Deadly Transports

Ten deadly nuclear cargoes of weapons-usable plutonium fuel are to travel from Europe to Japan each year via South Africa, according to a Reuters’s story published today. In light of this information, Greenpeace urged all potential en route nations concerned by the risks associated with these shipments to redouble their efforts in opposing this and future transports being conducted by European and Japanese nuclear industry.

The latest information comes as two ships laden with some 450 kg of weapons-usable plutonium, contained in 40 plutonium fuel elements (MOX), rounded the Cape of Good Hope bound for Japan early Friday morning (13th August). The ships are now believed to be in the South West Pacific Ocean heading for Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

“Unless en route states redouble their opposition and ban these transports, the prospect of a nuclear catastrophe occurring off their coast lines will increased dramatically”, warned Mike Townsley of Greenpeace International from Cape Town.

“[The transporting nations] Britain, France and Japan must be forced to end their deadly trade in nuclear materials, including weapons-usable plutonium fuel. They have not consulted the en route nations but are simply planning to impose unacceptable risks on the world’s coastlines”, Townsley added.

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