From: Greenpeace via Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive,alt.activism,sci.energy,talk.environment
Subject: NEWS: UN Convenes Special Meeting on Nuclear Transports
Followup-To: sci.energy,talk.environment
Date: 14 Dec 1992 23:16:52 GMT
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu

[Greenpeace Press Release from Environet -- Redistribute Freely]

        UN CONVENES SPECIAL MEETING ON NUCLEAR TRANSPORTS

LONDON December 4, 1992 (GP) As protest builds against Japan's
unprecedented program of plutonium sea shipments, three UN
agencies are preparing to convene a special joint working group
to discuss the adequacy of current safety provisions for nuclear
transports.  Greenpeace, an official participant in the working-
group, has prepared a paper for the meeting which documents the
inadequacy of current safety provisions and calls for a ban on
nuclear shipments.

The international meeting will be jointly convened by the
International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP).  Delegations from approximately 80 countries
are expected to participate in the working group which will be
hosted by the IMO in their London headquarters concurrent with
a meeting of their Maritime Safety Committee.

"Nuclear transports, like that of plutonium between France
and Japan, have occasioned protests from countries around the
world," said Damon Moglen of Greenpeace.  "The nuclear states
have arrogantly persevered with these transports despite
legitimate protests from those states which would be effected
by an accident.  This conflict has finally forced the UN into
action and we can only hope that they will have the strength
of will to ban these deadly shipments."

The joint working-group is expected to address all the nuclear
transports which are involved in the production of plutonium.
Accordingly, the working-group is expected to assess the safety
of the containers and ships used for the carriage of irradiated
nuclear fuel, plutonium and high level nuclear waste (1).

Current recommendations for the transport of these nuclear
materials come from the IAEA which is bound by its charter to
promote the growth of nuclear power.  This classic example of
the 'foxes in charge of the hen house' has lead numerous
organizations and countries to question the adequacy and
legitimacy of the current nuclear transport regime.

The IMO's decision to discuss the adequacy of safety provisions
for these nuclear transports has lead to a conflict between the
IMO and the IAEA.  For example, in a May 1991 letter to the IMO,
IAEA Director General Hans Blix, warned that IMO involvement
might lead them to "impose serious restrictions on the transport
of radioactive materials by sea...."  and thereby limit the
operations of the global nuclear industry.

"The decision by the IMO to assess the safety of these
transports suggests that the UN will no longer accept
self-regulation by the nuclear industry," said Mark Dickinson,
Greenpeace's IMO adviser.  "UNEP's decision to join this
working-group also suggests that the UN recognizes that the
threat of these transports is global in scope and deserves
evaluation on the environmental and political levels as well.
We can only hope that delegates to this meeting will withstand
the economic and political leverage of the nuclear industry and
those nations with an economic interest in these transports."

Citing serious indications that the nuclear transport packages
and ships are inadequately regulated, Greenpeace will press for
the UN to enact a global ban on nuclear transports.


Notes to Editors:

(1) Irradiated nuclear fuel is the extremely radioactive waste
which is removed from nuclear power plants after the fuel has
been rendered unsuitable for further use in the reactor.  This
extraordinarily radioactive nuclear waste, which contains
numerous radio-isotopes including plutonium, is currently
transported on a range of ships from ferries to standard cargo
vessels as well as specially built freighters.

The irradiated nuclear fuel is sent by sea to "reprocessing"
plants in France and Britain.  At these factories, plutonium
is separated from the other forms of nuclear waste.  Clients
of these reprocessing plants are then supposed to receive return
shipments of both plutonium and high level nuclear waste.
In coming years, tens of these shipments could occur every year
and would transit all the major oceans and seas of the planet.
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive