US plutonium shipment reaches Cherbourg

Two ships carrying a trans-Atlantic shipment of US plutonium have arrived in a port on the north-western French coast of Normandy.

Escort helicopters provided security as a small flotilla of boats from environmental group Greenpeace led a peaceful protest against the arrival of the armed British ships in Cherbourg.

Greenpeace led a string of protests against the shipment of 140kg of military-grade plutonium – enough to make nearly 10 Hiroshima-style bombs - taken from US nuclear warheads.

A French court ruled the environmental group could face fines if any of its boats got closer than 300 yards at sea or 100 yards in port.

British ships Pacific Teal and Pacific Pintail transported the highly radioactive substance to France for conversion into a commercial fuel called MOX at the Cadarache factory near the southern port of Marseille. Authorities have not indicated the arrival date.

Yesterday, a dozen militants holding a “Stop Plutonium” banner chained themselves to a lorry and blocked a road leading to the Cogema company plant, where the plutonium is to be treated.

France’s state-of-the-art nuclear technology is being used to help fulfill the terms of a September 2000 US-Russia disarmament accord in which both countries promised to destroy 34 tons of military plutonium.

France has received shipments of radioactive material in the past for conversion into MOX fuel, a mixture of plutonium oxide and uranium oxide, but this is the first time weapons-grade plutonium has been involved.

The US Energy Department must ship the plutonium overseas for conversion because there isn’t a plant in the United States that can do it.