Protesters to target N-ship (From Western Telegraph)

Protesters to target N-ship

ANTI-NUCLEAR campaigners from both sides of the water are planning a mass protest flotilla in the Irish Sea in August as armed cargo ships carry rejected nuclear fuel from Japan to Sellafield.

Two British-registered freighters, the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal, left for Japan on April 26th to pick up some 225 kgs of rejected plutonium. One ship will carry the Mox fuel and the other will act as an armed escort. They are expected in Japan soon and are due back in late August early September.

Floating protests are planned all along their route and the Welsh protest is being co-ordinated by Fishguard-based PANA (Pembrokeshire Anti-Nuclear Alliance), formed to fight the nuclear waste storage threat at Trecwn.

Mr Andrew Clemence, of PANA, said: We are concerned not only at the dangers posed to the environment by a possible sinking or breakdown, but also, following September 11th, the real threat posed by terrorism in an increasingly volatile world. We have a lot of boats coming from Ireland and we hope to organise quite a flotilla around the Welsh coast.

PANA is also calling on the National Assembly to protest to the British Government about the shipment of weapons-usable plutonium. The plutonium fuel was sent out from Sellafield to Japan in 1999 by BNFL. But it was discovered en route that safety data was inaccurate and, as a result, the Japanese government and fuel owner Kansai Electric refused to accept it and demanded its return.