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PACIFIC SWAN NUCLEAR SHIP |
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PACIFIC SWAN NUCLEAR SHIP |
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GOVERNMENT INSTRUCTED TO FORCE
BRITISH SHIP |
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Buenos Aires - A Federal Court of
Appeal in Buenos Aires ruled yesterday afternoon that the
government must take steps to prohibit a British-flagged nuclear
freighter from transiting Argentina's 200 mile exclusive
economic zone (EEZ) waters. The court ruling sets the stage for
a direct confrontation between Argentine authorities and the
Japanese, French and British governments who are involved in the
controversial nuclear waste transport. In its ruling, the three judges of the Court of Appeal overturned a lower court ruling and instructed the Argentine government to prevent the nuclear waste shipment from entering Argentine waters. Citing the possibility of "irreversible" damage to the public health and the environment, the court ruled that such action is required of the government. The court supported its ruling by stating that international norms confer on Argentina "ample powers to prevent contingencies that have aptitude to produce irreversible ecological damage in the habitat of our territorial sea and exclusive economic zone". |
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The court ruling comes as the
Japan-bound nuclear freighter "Pacific Swan" is inside
Argentina's EEZ waters on its route via the notoriously
dangerous waters off Cape Horn. The Swan is carrying 192 blocks
of vitrified highly radioactive nuclear waste. The waste
contains a staggering 96,000,000 curies of radioactivity. The
transport is the largest nuclear waste shipment in history and
has been dubbed a "floating Chernobyl". |
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PACIFIC
SWAN Nuclear Ship transporting plutonium |
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The waste is a by-product of
plutonium separation from Japanese irradiated nuclear fuel at the
French state-controlled COGEMA La Hague reprocessing plant. This
waste is among the most radioactive material ever produced - the
glass blocks are in fact so radioactive that a person standing
within one metre of an unshielded block would receive a lethal
dose of radiation in less than one minute. If released into the
environment, the waste would be a deadly environmental pollutant
for hundreds of thousands of years. "We applaud this court
ruling," said Martin Prieto of Greenpeace in Argentina.
"The ruling is clearly in line with Argentine Constitution
and recognizes developments in international law which seek to
protect the environment and public health. The Argentine
President, Mr De la Rua, should take immediate action to force
this deadly shipment out of our waters and should support our
neighbours in doing the same. Ultimately, we hope that this ruling
will encourage and enable the government to take a leadership role
in seeking to ban these hazardous cargoes at the regional and
international levels as well." Greenpeace has repeatedly called on
the Japanese government to stop its controversial program to
procure a massive stockpile of weapons-usable plutonium. The
program, which currently generates no electricity, can not be
justified on economic, energy-production, safety, security or
nuclear non-proliferation bases. In addition to this high level waste
shipment currently off the coast of Argentina, Greenpeace revealed
on Tuesday that secret preparations for a plutonium fuel shipment
have been finalised in France and Britain. This shipment is due to
depart, with its cargo of nuclear weapons-usable material, as
early as the middle of next week. The route remains secret,
however past shipments of plutonium fuel (MOX) and high level
nuclear waste have gone via the Caribbean and Panama, South Africa
and the South Pacific, and most recently South America/ Cape Horn.
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Copyright © 1999-2003 Orlando Moure - Todos los Derechos Reservados |
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