Japanese activists block nuclear waste ship

Issue 

Japanese activists block nuclear waste ship

Anti-nuclear activists in the fishing village of Rokkasho in Japan celebrated a temporary victory on March 10, when a ship carrying 30 tonnes of nuclear waste from France for storage in Rokkasho was prevented from docking for two days. The British-registered Pacific Swan has now been allowed to dock, but not to unload its cargo.

Japan has few processing plants of its own, and so sends its spent nuclear fuel to France and Britain. There, plutonium is extracted for use in its breeder reactor, and the remaining waste is sealed into metal containers with melted glass and shipped back to Japan.

Nuclear industry officials claim the shipments are safe, but Rokkasho sits on two active earthquake faults. Governor Morio Kimura has demanded an assurance from Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto that progress is being made toward a permanent storage site elsewhere before he gives permission for the ship to unload.

The shipments to Japan have been heavily criticised since they began in 1995. After protests by Caribbean governments, the last shipment was forced to follow a circuitous route around South America and Africa. The current shipment was the first to use the Panama Canal, a move that Pacific Island countries condemned.

A handful of demonstrators have been keeping up a vigil at the port gate, and more than 1000 shoes have been sent to the site from all over Japan to symbolise what protesters think of nuclear power: that it's useless.

"When we eat seaweed, we have to worry about whether it's safe", said Tamae Iijima. A 49-year-old farmer, Keiko Kikukawa, said: "I'm angry that they thrust the toxic waste on us. We will be the ones who get hurt if there is an accident."

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