Fight goes on, pledge Sellafield protesters

Environmental campaigners aboard a Greenpeace-led protest which intercepted two nuclear freighters in the Irish Sea tonight declared: “The fight must go on.”

A massive sea-borne protest is expected off the coast of Cumbria tomorrow morning when the ships carrying plutonium fuel dock at Barrow-in-Furness close to Sellafield.

Up to four of the 20 boats in the Nuclear Free Irish Sea Flotilla staged a peaceful protest within sight of the ships this afternoon – but none made contact as activists maintained a safe distance from the heavily armed vessels.

Pop star Jim Corr said there was a sense of elation onboard the Rainbow Warrior when the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal were sighted.

“There was a sense of excitement, and of a job well done,” he said.

“This was always going to be a peaceful protest and no-one got close enough to be sprayed by the water cannons on board the two ships.

“But it was a great endeavour for three or four boats to rendezvous with the ships in the middle of this massive stretch of sea.

“They left Sellafield in 1999 and now in 2002, when they were heading back there, we were here to raise world-wide awareness of the terrible dangers of trading nuclear material.”

Mr Corr said the protest against the nuclear fuel industry would continue, both at the ships’ eventual destination at Barrow-in-Furness and through world-wide campaigns.

“The fight must go on. These ships passed within 28 miles of Ireland, which is the closest they have been to any land since they left Japan and it is important that people realise that this trade in nuclear bomb material has to stop before a disaster happens.”

Earlier in the day British Nuclear Fuels had appealed to the activists to protest in a “safe and responsible manner”.

The company confirmed the ships carrying the plutonium fuel back from Japan were due to complete their 18,000 journey by arriving at Barrow, near Sellafield in Cumbria at around 9am tomorrow.

The fleet of 20 protesting boats were spread out across the south of the Irish Sea to intercept the boats and highlight what they described as the “dangers of nuclear material”.

Captain Malcolm Miller, head of BNFL’s Marine Transport business, said he recognised that individuals and groups had the right to “peacefully and lawfully protest”.

However, he called on anyone who wished to protest to do so in a “safe and responsible manner”.

The activists originally put to sea last Thursday and part of the flotilla of protesting boats left the port of Holyhead yesterday morning to station itself in the south of the Irish Sea, while others departed for Barrow, where another large protest is expected tomorrow morning.

In addition to the protest, the Government deployed 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.

Meanwhile, students held a demonstration in Dublin city centre this afternoon to coincide with the return of the two ships.

This followed an incident on Saturday which saw four members of an Irish environmental group charged with public order offences after they chained themselves together on the roof of the Sellafield visitor’s centre in Cumbria.

All four were released on bail and are due to appear before Whitehaven Magistrates Court on September 24.