Ecobreves – CHILE: No to Radioactive Waste

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SANTIAGO, Jun 23 2002 (IPS) - Greenpeace-Chile and other environmental organizations demonstrated outside the Japanese embassy in Santiago against the upcoming passage through Chilean waters of a Japanese ship carrying radioactive fuel to Great Britain. According to press reports, the departure of a Japanese vessel is imminent. The ship is carrying 225 kilos of MOX, a mix of uranium oxide and plutonium, enough to arm 50 nuclear bombs, according to Greenpeace, an international environmental watchdog.

The potentially dangerous load is likely to pass near Cape Horn, in extreme southern Chile, which is one of the most dangerous ship routes in the world.

British Nuclear Fuel Limited was forced to pay a hefty fine and return the MOX to Britain after Japanese authorities uncovered the falsification of data about the shipment's safety.