From: Greenpeace vessel MV Solo tracking Pacific Pintail
Date: TUE 11-APR-95 06:09:44 GMT - DAY 48

NUCLEAR WASTE SHIP NEAR HAWAII

The Pacific Pintail's position (0600 GMT) is 18 degrees 10 minutes North, and 168 degrees and 27 minutes West. The Pintail's course is 310 degrees and the ship's speed is 14 knots. We are at the moment some 280 miles southwest of the island Kaula, off the coast of Kauai. For other distances to Pacific Islands please see enclosed table.

While The Pacific Pintail carrying 14 tonnes of highly radioactive waste from the commercial plutonium industry is making its way to Japan through the waters South of Honolulu (Hawaii), the commercial plutonium industry in Germany is planning for an expansion of plutonium programs. German utilities are currently negotiating contracts with Belgium, French and UK plutonium fuel production plants for some 240 tonnes of plutonium. Greenpeace revealed earlier in April that German electrical utilities were also holding secret talks with Britain and France for the production of another 600 tonnes of plutonium fuel.

The global plutonium trade is primarily driven by Western European countries and Japan, and has long been seen by many nations, including the United States, as a severe threat to regional and international attempts to curb nuclear proliferation. The United States halted its own domestic commercial plutonium program out of similar proliferation concerns, but has supported Japan's plutonium program.

These new contracts come while the international community is preparing to draw up guidelines on nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. Through France, Japan and the UK commitments to national plutonium plants, the industry thus far has succeeded avoiding having placed any restraints or limitations on their production and trading capacity. Last month, a mandate for negotiations to start at the Geneva Conference on Disarmament on a production ban on military fissile (including plutonium) materials failed to include commercial plutonium in its scope.

Greenpeace urges States who are party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to call for parallel talks on a similar production ban on commercial plutonium production as one of the conditions for extension of the Treaty. Preventing nuclear proliferation while shipping and trading plutonium around the world to any state that can financially afford to buy, is bound to fail and jeopardize global security. Commercial plutonium can be used to produce nuclear weapons, as was demonstrated in 1962 when the US detonated a nuclear explosive made out of reactor-grade plutonium.

In the mean time Hawaiian Governor Cayetano is believed to have sent a letter to US President Clinton expressing his grave concern and the impossibility for Hawaii to deal with any potential disaster caused by the nearby nuclear waste ship. The companies and governments involved in this plutonium trade have scattered responsibility for the shipment making it unclear who and/or how much liability coverage would be available should an accident occur. The nuclear waste onboard the Pintail consists of 13 million curies, or about half of the radioactivity that was released during the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986.

Direction and distances of the radioactive waste ship Pacific Pintail to some of Pacific Island States. The Pacific Pintail sails per day a distance of approximately 330 nautical miles.
Pacific State City/Island Distance/Direction relative to PP's course

Hawaii, Oahu Honolulu 415 miles, 110 degrees right of PP
Tahiti Papeete 2,320 miles, 150 degrees left of PP
Kiribati Bairiki 1,670 miles, 80 degrees left of PP
Nauru Nauru Island 2,030 miles, 70 degrees left of PP
Western Samoa Apia 1,970 miles, 120 degrees left of PP
American Samoa Pago Pago 1,970 miles, 120 degrees left of PP
Tonga Nuku'Alofa 2,430 miles, 120 degrees left of PP
Tuvalu Funafuti 1,885 miles, 100 degrees left of PP
Fiji Suva 2,400 miles, 105 degrees left of PP
Solomon Isl. Honiara 2,700 miles, 80 degrees left of PP
Vanuatu Palikulo Bay 2,649 miles, 90 degrees left of PP
F.S. Micronesia Pohnpei 2,305 miles, 55 degrees left of PP
Marshall Isl. Bikini 1,795 miles, 50 degrees left of PP
Guam Guam 2,975 miles, 45 degrees left of PP
For additional information on the Pacific Pintail's voyage or it's cargo of plutonium waste, contact Bas Bruyne on the Solo (phone: ++872-1301166--WARNING $10 PER MINUTE), or Karen Richardson at Greenpeace UK (phone: ++44-171-226-3151). Photo, video, or other media requests to Blair Palese at Greenpeace Communications (phone: ++44-171-833-0600).

Best regards and No Nukes!
Ulf Birgander (Captain)
Bas Bruyne (Campaigner)

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