From: Greenpeace vessel MV Solo tracking Pacific Pintail
Date: TUE 28-MAR-95 07:16:12 GMT - DAY 34, PART I

NUCLEAR WASTE SHIP 14 DAYS FROM HAWAII

The Pacific Pintail's position (0700 GMT) is 520 miles southeast of Easter Island, in a position of 35 degrees 50 minutes south, and 107 degrees and 24 minutes west. The ship's course is 320 degrees and it is sailing at a speed of 12 knots. We expect to pass Easter Island on a distance of some 220 miles in less than two days.

Hawaii. We are some 4,500 miles southeast of it, or about 14 days sailing. Already last December Representative Abercrombie of Hawaii issued a statement of concern over the shipment of high level nuclear waste from France to Japan together with his colleague from Guam, Delegate Underwood. Upon the release of Greenpeace's study on safety issues in the sea transport of vitrified high-level radioactive wastes to Japan (the Lyman Report), the two members of the US House of Representatives stated that the people of Hawaii and Guam should not be placed in harm's way. They further called on the US administration to make a good-faith, timely effort to address the unresolved safety questions raised by plans to ship the radioactive waste by sea through US ports and/or territorial waters. Little has happened since. We urge all net users/surfers to demand these shipments be stopped and that they not be permitted into US waters. Contact your elected officials or e-mail President Clinton at the following address: XXXXXX. Let them know the global trade in plutonium will not be tolerated!

For additional information on the Pacific Pintail's voyage or it's cargo of plutonium waste, contact Bas Bruyne on the Solo (phone: ++874-1301166--warning $10 per minute), or Karen Richardson at Greenpeace UK (phone: ++44-171-226-3151). Photo, video, or other media requests to Blair Palese or Mark Warford at Greenpeace Communications (phone: ++44-171-833-0600).

Best regards and No Nukes!
Ulf Birgander (Captain)

From: Greenpeace vessel MV Solo tracking Pacific Pintail
Date: TUE 28-MAR-95 19:02:43 GMT - DAY 34, PART II

NUCLEAR WASTE SHIP NEARS EASTER ISLAND

The Pacific Pintail's position as of 1900 GMT is 395 miles south of Easter Island, in a position of 33 degrees 46 minutes south, and 109 degrees and 33 minutes west. The ship's course is 320 degrees and it is sailing at a speed of 14 knots. We expect to pass Easter Island on a distance of some 220 miles in a little over a day.

Today the OPANAL General Conference started where Caribbean and Latin American countries will discuss what measures to take to limit and restrict shipments of radioactive waste and plutonium through their region. The conference is being held in Vina del mar, Chile from March 28 to 30, the country that took the strongest action to keep the Pacific Pintail out of its waters in recent weeks. OPANAL is the Secretariat for the regional "Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean." Given recent statements by the plutonium industry about increased secrecy around future transports of radioactive waste and plutonium, it is likely that without firm regional prohibitions, radioactive waste and plutonium shipments will continue to pose a threat to the delicate environments of the Caribbean and Latin American states.

Greenpeace has called on all countries along possible shipping routes to prohibit these highly dangerous radioactive transports from the waters under their jurisdiction. Countries have the jurisdiction to protect and preserve the marine environment under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In doing so, countries should apply the precautionary principle as formulated in the 1992 Rio Declaration on the protection of the sea, to prevent possible damage and irreparable harm to the marine environment and ecosystems in the waters under their jurisdiction.

Greenpeace has prepared a paper that deals with the international law applicable to the passage of vessels carrying highly radioactive cargo. The paper, entitled "The Right to Control Passage of Nuclear Transport Vessels Under International Law" is available from Greenpeace International.

For additional information on the Pacific Pintail's voyage or it's cargo of plutonium waste, please contact Bas Bruyne on the Solo (phone: ++874-1301166--Warning $10 per minute), or Karen Richardson at Greenpeace UK (phone: ++44-171-226-3151). Photo, video, or other media requests to Blair Palese or Mark Warford at Greenpeace Communications (phone: ++44-171-833-0600).

The legal paper on the right to control nuclear transports under international law is now on the Internet as a hypertext document. If interested, return to the Greenpeace home page and see the Multilateral Treaties section or click here to go directly to the document.

Best regards and No Nukes!
Ulf Birgander (Captain)