UK Nuclear Shipment Protest Leads To Arrests

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

UK Nuclear Shipment Protest Leads To Arrests

LONNDON (Reuters) - British police arrested seven activists at sea 
Monday when environmentalists used a huge floating effigy of an 
elephant to halt a shipment of nuclear fuel to Japan.  

British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) said the captain of the Pacific Teal 
returned to berth at Barrow in northwest England because of safety 
concerns sparked by the overnight protest.  

The ship had been due to sail to Cherbourg, France, on the first leg 
of a voyage to Japan, where the plutonium fuel was to be loaded into 
nuclear power reactors.  

A second ship carrying plutonium remains in Barrow docks. The 
Greenpeace environmental group said the combined cargo of the two 
vessels could be converted into 60 bombs -- more than India's nuclear 
weapons program.  

BNFL said it was considering legal moves against Greenpeace and would 
not announce a new sailing time for the ships.

``As a company, BNFL has no problem with a peaceful and lawful 
protest. However we would not want to see the safety of the ships' 
crew, the escort team or the public at large put in danger by some 
irresponsible media stunt,'' Alastair Thomas, BNFL's head of 
transport, said in a statement.  

The Pacific Teal voyage would have marked the first transfer of so-
called ``direct use'' nuclear weapons material since 1992 -- 
considered easiest to convert into bombs -- with at least 80 
plutonium shipments planned over the next decade.  

But Greenpeace notched up a first victory in its long-running fight 
to stop the shipments.  

Under cover of darkness, activists towed a blow-up effigy of a white 
elephant, excreting nuclear bombs, in front of Barrow port and set 
sail in inflatable boats, wielding banners of protest.  

They were joined by South Korean environmentalists, who fear the 
ships would pass through the Straits of Korea en route to Japan.  

Police said they arrested five men and two women ``of various 
nationalities'' on public order offences.

``We will be staying on site to ensure there's no unlawful activity 
and to minimize disruption to the public,'' a police spokesman said.  

Greenpeace, too, vowed to keep up its vigil, despite losing 
activists, effigy and an inflatable boat to police.  

``We aren't going anywhere. We still have two inflatables, good boat 
drivers and we've outmaneuvered a very heavy police presence. The 
mood is good,'' activist Mike Townsley told Reuters from on board the 
MV Greenpeace campaign vessel at Barrow.  

``It may be a small victory for Greenpeace but what it does show is 
that little people can stand up to large industries and make life 
difficult,'' said Townsley.  

He predicted BNFL would try to set sail again on the 4:55 p.m. (1555 
GMT) tide and vowed Greenpeace would do its best to stop it.  

BNFL would not say if security arrangements had been stepped up in 
light of the protest, which Japan deplored.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry official in Tokyo said: ''Greenpeace's 
unfounded violent acts are extremely regrettable...There is no 
(safety) problem with the transport.''  

Opponents of the shipments fear environmental contamination, nuclear 
proliferation and possible hijacking on the high seas.  

The Oxford Research Group, a think tank, said the Pacific Pintail and 
Pacific Teal were inadequately armed against possible terrorists or 
agents of a rogue state, despite each vessel carrying three cannons 
and a high-speed armed boat.  

BNFL denied the plutonium was at risk and said the security 
arrangements fully satisfied a U.S.-Japan nuclear pact, under  
which Tokyo needs U.S. consent to ship plutonium. 

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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