Activists at sea in search for radioactive shipment

Activists from the environmental campaign group Greenpeace put to sea today to lead a flotilla of boats in the search for a radioactive shipment on its way to Sellafield.

The group’s flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, led a handful of boats from Dublin port while more vessels set sail further south from Arklow in Co Wicklow.

The flotilla of 10 craft will sail to Holyhead in Wales and then along the coast to Scotland where more small boats and yachts will join the protest.

They will then attempt to locate the cargo ships, the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal, which are due to arrive in the Irish Sea within days.

In addition to the protest, the Government has decided to deploy Navy vessels and spotter aircraft in its territory in the region to monitor the shipment when it nears its shores.

The five-tonne cargo of plutonium mixed oxide fuel (MOX) was sent back from Takahama in Japan after safety records at Sellafield, which is operated by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), were exposed as false in 1999.

Speaking as the flotilla set sail, Greenpeace campaigner Shaun Burnie said: “After 100,000 kilometres this global nuclear pariah and its cargo of rejected plutonium MOX will receive the welcome it deserves - the united voice from all the nations of the Irish Sea that this should be the last plutonium transport by BNFL.”

Publicity officer Mhairi Dunlop added: “This shipment represents an industry which is not only financially, but morally, bankrupt. We will make sure that the ships, BNFL and the UK government hear us loud and clear.”

She said Greenpeace believed the ships, which are fitted with 30mm cannon and guarded by UK Atomic Energy Authority police, are currently off the west coast of Madeira in international waters.

She added that activists had no intention of attempting to board or block the ships.

BNFL points out that the safety measures under which the shipment is being made have been inspected and approved of by independent authorities in the UK.

But the company has failed to reassure Irish politicians - during their three weeks in Dublin Greenpeace campaigners held talks with, and won support from, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Environment Minister Martin Cullen and Marine Minister Dermot Ahern.

Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, was at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in Dublin this morning to watch the Rainbow Warrior and the campaigners begin their journey.