From: Greenpeace vessel MV Solo tracking Pacific Pintail
Date: SAT 25-MAR-95 06:36:12 GMT - DAY 31, PART I
The Pacific Pintail's position (0700 GMT) is some 1,4000 miles southeast of Easter Isalnd, in a position of 47 degrees 25 minutes south, and 94 degrees and 25 minutes west. The ship's course is 320 degrees and it is sailing at a speed of 13 knots.
It is expected that outraged Caribbean and Latin American nations will use next week's OPANAL General Conference to raise the issue of regional protest to the current and future nuclear waste and plutonium transports. OPANAL is the Secretariat for the regional "Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean." The OPANAL General Conference will last from March 28 to 30 and will be held in Vina del Mar, Chile. While it is not yet clear which route the Pacific Pintail will now take to Japan, the transport is likely to continue to violate the rights of states that have prohibited the shipment of radioactive waste from the waters under their jurisdiction.
This transport of highly radioactive waste with the Pacific Pintail is, since 1994, an example of the renewed dedication of the Japanese government to its massive civil plutonium production, procurement and stockpiling program. As part of this, and with the help of the United Kingdom and France, Japan is quietly preparing to make more than one hundred transoceanic shipments of plutonium, spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste before the year 2000. The shipment onboard the Pacific Pintail consists of 28 radioactive waste glass blocks. An additional 3,000 shipments of highly radioactive glass blocks to Japan are expected. Each unshielded block is so deadly that a person standing one meter from one would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than a minute. A fully loaded PNTL transport ship could consist of over 140 of these blocks, or in other words some 10 times the radioactivity released during the Chernobyl disaster.
This transport is legitimised by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty's (NPT) promotion of nuclear power and plutonium reprocessing. Both France and the United Kingdom have been actively promoting an indefinite extension of the NPT. An indefinite extension would protect the position both countries enjoy in the world-order and their special ability to threathen global security with their nuclear forces.
Greenpeace urges en route nations to call for a ban on plutonium production at talks on the NPT in New York in April and to oppose indefinite extension of the Treaty, which would amount to a permanent licence to produce plutonium and other nuclear bomb-usable material and ship it around the globe.
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: ++44-71-833-0600).
Best regards and No Nukes!
Ulf Birgander (Captain)
The Pacific Pintail's position (1900 GMT) is some 1,250 miles southeast of Easter Island, in a position of 45 degrees 21 minutes south, and 96 degrees and 52 minutes west. The ship's course is 320 degrees and it is sailing at a speed of 14 knots.
This transport of nuclear waste is legitimised by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty's (NPT) promotion of nuclear power and plutonium reprocessing. Both France and the United Kingdom have been actively promoting an indefinite extension of the NPT which would protect the their position in the world-order and their special ability to threathen global security with their nuclear forces.
Greenpeace urges en route nations to call for a ban on plutonium production at NPT talks in New York in April and to oppose indefinite extension of the Treaty, which would amount to a permanent licence to produce plutonium and other nuclear bomb-usable material and ship it around the globe for the indefinite future.
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: ++44-71-833-0600).
Best regards and No Nukes!
Ulf Birgander (Captain)