LONDON, England, April 29, 2002 (ENS) - Two armed British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) freighters left Barrow-in-Furness in northern England Friday morning, to pick up some of the most controversial nuclear material in the world.

The vessels are bound for Japan to pick up a highly radioactive mixture of plutonium and uranium oxide (MOX) that BNFL originally shipped to Japan in 1999 as fuel for electricity generation by Kansai Electric Power Company.

Shortly after the MOX arrived in Japan, was revealed that the manufacturer, BNFL, had falsified critical quality control data during production. The data falsification scandal forced the resignation of then BNFL Chief Executive Officer John Taylor and triggered investigations by several British nuclear authorities.

The BNFL ship Pacific Pintail is one of two vessels en route to Japan to pick up MOX fuel. (Photo courtesy Greenpeace)

British and Japanese officials plan that the ships will pick up the eight MOX fuel assemblies at Takahama, Japan in June, and return them to the BNFL nuclear fuel reprocessing facility on the Irish Sea in Cumbria sometime this year.

British Nuclear Fuels Chief Executive Norman Askew said Friday, "This is an important milestone for BNFL as it begins to draw a line under the issue and we now look forward to an increasingly positive relationship with our Japanese customers."

The Japanese and UK governments agreed that the MOX fuel assemblies would be returned to the UK, and this is being implemented under the terms of a Settlement Agreement between BNFL and Kansai Electric Power Company, said Askew.

Greenpeace warns the fuel assemblies contain "sufficient plutonium to build 50 nuclear bombs." The international environmental organization warns that the ships could be a terrorist target or could have an accident at sea that could release radiation into the environment.

MOX fuel is manufactured by blending uranium and plutonium powders to include three to 10 percent plutonium. The powder is mixed with a lubricant and pressed into cylindrical pellets, which are baked and then housed in zirconium alloy tubes before being placed in steel casks for transport.

Greenpeace has "serious concerns" about the safety of the shipment. "The cask in which the plutonium is to be transported has not yet been licensed by the Japanese authorities. An earlier license was revoked when it was discovered that levels of the single largest source of radioactivity in the cask, the radioisotope Plutonium-241, will be up to twice as high as originally estimated," said Greenpeace International nuclear campaigner Shaun Burnie.

BNFL's Askew said that the impending shipment "honors BNFL's agreement with its customer to return the fuel to the UK and meets our stated commitment to do so within 2002."

But Greenpeace maintains the MOX transport would breach international agreements and UK law. The international organization has written to the UK government and to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) this week to outline its case.

In line with the US-Japan Bilateral Agreement Concerning the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, United States consent to the transfer is required, and this approval was given in March.

The Greenpeace letter says that U.S. has given approval on the basis that the plutonium is to be recovered and returned to Japan in the form of fresh MOX fuel assemblies.

MOX fuel assembly (Photo courtesy Cogema)

"Yet, the UK Government has told Parliament that the faulty MOX is to be imported and stored at Sellafield while BNFL decides what to do with it. And the UK has promised the Irish Government and the International Law of the Sea (ITLOS), that there will be no transports associated with the operation of the Sellafield MOX plant before October 2002," the group wrote.

So, the Greenpeace letter reasons, "The import must be in breach either of the U.S. authorization or the undertakings given to ITLOS." Greenpeace has asked for a response from the UK Government by April 30.

BNFL acknowledges that on arrival in the UK, the eight fuel assemblies will be placed in storage at Sellafield in a facility specially designed to provide physical protection to the required standard for this type of nuclear material. "The future use of the fuel is yet to be determined, but will be in accordance with the relevant regulatory requirements," the company says.

The two vessels, the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal, one acting as an armed escort, the other carrying the MOX, would face a barrage of international opposition if they make their global journey, Greenpeace predicts. Demonstrations took place Friday in Dublin at the UK and Japanese embassies organized by Greenpeace, the Gluaisteach student movement, VOICE and many other anti-nuclear groups.

"The industry is creating a floating terrorist target and a dangerous hazard simply in order for BNFL to be able to get new contracts with its Japanese customers. This would result in yet more shipments of plutonium fuel, perhaps as many as 80 over the next decade," said Burnie.

Despite Greenpeace concerns, the UK government has given this shipment the green light. The Transport Plan under which the voyage will take place has been approved by the United Kingdom's security regulator, the Department of Trade and Industry's Office for Civil Nuclear Security.

BNFL acknowledges that some people question whether transporting nuclear materials is a good idea and say it should not be done. "But our transport safety record is the best in the world," the company says. In the 40 years we have transported used fuel, we have travelled more than 16 million miles without a single escape of radioactivity."

The nuclear industry is keeping secret the route of the proposed June shipment, but three routes are routinely used between Europe and Japan:

• via the Pacific, Panama Canal, Caribbean, Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea
  
• via the Pacific, Cape Horn, Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea
  
• via the Pacific, Tasman Sea, Cape of Good Hope, Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea

But BNFL says its nuclear transport ships all have the highest rating given by the International Maritime Organization.

The nuclear transport ships have double hulls to withstand damage, and they have at least two sets of safety related equipment such as navigation, communication, cargo monitoring electrical and cooling systems so that the ship can use the second system if faults develop.

Satellite navigation and satellite tracking equipment is on board, so that the ships automatically transmits their position back to the UK, and there is extra firefighting equipment including a hold-flooding system.

But Greenpeace and other critics are not satisfied. "BNFL lied to the world about the falsification of safety data; countries along the routes have every right to be concerned that a company with such a dangerous and discreditable history should be in charge of the safety of this shipment," Burnie said.

"This shipment must be abandoned before it is too late," he demanded. "When this BNFL MOX fuel arrived in Japan in 1999, Japan was experiencing its worst ever nuclear accident at Tokai-mura. On the present schedule, the plutonium shipment will take place right in the middle of the FIFA World Cup in Japan, in spite of the enormous diversion of security resources this will take."

"The nuclear industry in the UK and Japan clearly has not learned from its mistakes, and are showing total disregard for public safety, the environment and international security," Burnie warned.

In Askew's view, the company has learned from its mistakes in the two years since he took the BNFL helm. "Returning this fuel to the United Kingdom will bring to an end a chapter in BNFL's operations from which many lessons have been learned," he said.

For a history of the faulty MOX fuel visit:
MOX Fuel Data Falsified, British Nuclear Fuels Admits
and
British Nuclear Fuel False Data Scandal Widens

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved.