(October 30, 1992) The following is from Nigel Queree of Jersey and gives another perspective to the problems presented not just by the prospect of plutonium being shipped from France to Japan, but to the problem of what to do with it if it is not shipped.
(381.3725) WISE Amsterdam - I thought that I would share with you what it feels like to live in Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, off the coast of France, knowing that we are seemingly powerless to do anything to stop the plutonium.
After all, the ship will of necessity pass within 50 miles of us. We could not possibly set a greater exclusion zone, because the actual re-processing plant is as close.
I am an elected member of the government of Jersey and the nuclear issue is one which causes great concern locally but we all fear the greater, perhaps more likely calamity, that by calling attention to the nuclear plants near us - La Hague reprocessing and Flammanville power station - that we will destroy both the tourist industry which brings so many visitors to our Island and the finance industry that has also made our Island so famous. That would leave us with our agricultural industry, but then if we were in Japan, we would be barred from selling agricultural produce because we are too near to a nuclear installation!!!
We have complained that we have not been consulted. But then, who would have negotiated with the French and Japanese on our behalf: the British government?? It seems rather unlikely.
When I first read about the shipments, I wrote of my concern to our most senior Crown Officer and some of my more senior colleagues in government. I received only a reply from the Crown Officer who informed me that the Harbours department would investigate and voice the my concern to the French authorities. This brought me back to the original dilemma regarding the well-being of the Island.
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COMICS FOR PLUTONIUM SAFETY
Japan is trying to convince the inhabitants of Hawaii and other parts of the world of the absolute safety of its plutonium shipments by issuing an information leaflet in funny comic style. A representative of the Japanese foreign ministry presented the leaflet at a press conference on 4 September in Honolulu. Among other things, it shows a private investigator giving assurances that the barrels filled with radioactive substances in front of him had passed all IAEA safety tests. (Wonderful, why not ship them, then? Paranoid environmentalists!). Graphics in comic style make claims about the barrels' resistance to stress, even under high pressure or temperature (so nothing can happen, anyway). A Greenpeace representative criticized the leaflet saying that the shipment of plutonium was a deadly serious issue and shouldn't be treated as if it takes place in a comic-fantasy world. Source: Elbe-Jeetzel Zeitung (FRG), 7 Sept. 1992 |
When the Akatsuki Maru arrived in Cherbourg there was of course much more publicity and the story has received some coverage in the local media. Greenpeace are stationed in the more northerly of the Channel Islands (named Alderney) which will be even closer to the route of the ship.
The recent history of accidents close to the Islands is not at all reassuring. A few years ago a container with Lindane in it was washed off a ship. A French tug located it and took it in tow, but then lost it and the container was never seen again. This of course was the sort of "accident" that could never happen!
About the plutonium, the official response varies between "it will be all right because there will be very good security" and "this dangerous cargo is being transported between two very responsible countries so there is nothing to fear".
The real issue for Jersey is not so much the shipment, although that poses a gigantic threat to us and the rest of the world, but that if the rest of the world stops the shipment (and I do hope it does) then what will happen to the plutonium? If it stays at La Hague then we in Jersey still have a gigantic problem and the rest of the world may not be so interested, after all there is only 200,000 resident Channel Islanders and we have no real political power.
For the average person the thought that a boat loaded with sufficient plutonium to kill the entire planet is a bit too mind-boggling. Probably many just don't want to believe it, others put their entire faith on the nuclear industry (for example one newspaper commentator wrote this: "radioactive materials are being produced all over the world for the benefit of man [humankind]. We have to rely on those concerned being sensible, responsible and careful about the manufacture, transport and storage.")
Are peoples' memories so short? Have they really forgotten Chernobyl?
This shipment could be the issue that will make the threat of nuclear devastation more tangible to everyone in the world because it is no longer only affecting other remote areas. It has the potential to unite the people of the world against the nuclear industry, yet that makes the stakes for the nuclear industry even higher and they are not likely to just give up because of a few 'green' politicians or campaigners.
I am still awaiting my copy of the petition [see last WISE NC], but I wonder if that is really the best way to protest?
I was quoted in the local paper "Jersey is piggy in the middle between France and the UK, we have the most to lose and the least opportunity to make changes."
Could this be like the Boston Tea party, instead the cry will be NO POLLUTION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION? There must be enough people in the world willing to stand up and be counted and realise that if this shipment is not stopped, if the re-processing is not stopped and if the nuclear industry is not stopped, we are teetering on the very brink of a major catastrophe, if not this shipment it could be the next.
Jersey will make a stand, our small voice will probably not be heard, but it is vital that we join the world-wide campaign to stop the shipments AND stop the production of plutonium.
Source and Contact: Senator Nigel Queree, Creux Baillot Cottage, Leoville, St Ouen, Jersey JE3 2DR, Channel Islands; tel/fax: +44 534 482191.