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| Europe |
| Activists held ahead of nuclear shipment [France purchases a clue] |
| 2004-10-03 |
| CHERBOURG, France (Reuters) - French police have detained a Greenpeace boat and two activists ahead of the arrival of a U.S. shipment of bomb-grade plutonium on two British-registered ships, the environmental pressure group says. The shipment is due to arrive in France late on Monday. Dozens of activists have since Saturday awaited the arrival of the two ships, escorted by armed commandos, at the port of Cherbourg in northern France. Activists question the wisdom of transporting such security-sensitive cargo at a time of heightened risk of terror attacks globally. French nuclear energy firm Areva, whose Cogema unit will recycle the 140 kg (308 lb) of plutonium, said it would only release information on the shipment from Charleston, South Carolina, a few hours ahead of its arrival. "The two ships transporting the plutonium should arrive on Monday night," said a Greenpeace spokesman. He said the activists were detained while putting up a protest banner. Despite the oddity of this happening in France, such an event should serve as a signal to the greens that their attempts to generate publicity or draw attention to potential terrorist targets shall not be tolerated. Many political groups will need to rethink their actions in light of global terrorism or increasingly find themselves categorized with those terror operatives. The shipment is part of a post-Cold War agreement between the United States and Russia to get rid of plutonium from excess nuclear warheads. Greenpeace criticised the transport, saying on arrival in Cherbourg the plutonium would be driven over 1,000 km (660 miles) in vulnerable trucks to a factory in southeast France. Of course, Greenpeace takes no responsibility with regard to how they have centered attention upon these "vulnerable trucks" for any curious terrorist cells. Way to go, @ssholes. Areva's Cogema unit will recycle the plutonium into nuclear fuel at its Cadarache and Marcoule plants in southeastern France and ship it back to the United States, which plans to use it in an electricity-generating reactor. It is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's controversial programme to turn plutonium from the "excess" nuclear warheads into mixed-oxide (MOX) plutonium-uranium enriched fuel. Critics fear the fuel could potentially be used to build nuclear weapons. Actually, America may have a need for some more warheads in the very near future. Iran's been coveting them for quite a while now and it's about time to make their wish come true. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #5 What Rivrdog said. Would that our own country had as sensible, pro-nuclear energy policy as France's. Also like the part about locking up the greenies--though that might not even be necessary anymore. Even those idiots are beginning to voice support for shifting toward nuclear power. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-10-04 4:18:57 PM |
| #4 So the Greenpeace boys are criticizing the fact that our bomb-grade plutonium from nuclear weapons is being recycled to MOX, because the MOX could then be used to ... build nuclear weapons. I suppose that makes sense, but damned if I know how. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-10-03 10:44:26 PM |
| #3 If Greenpeace boats come within 100 meters of this very dangerous cargo or the ships carrying it I would hope the 30 mm cannon that the ships carry will be put to use. I am not talking about warning shots. I am talking about disabling the ships. Let the authorities deal with them then. While the ships are still at sea they have a right to defend themselves from these Greenpeace terrorist/activists. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-10-03 8:53:39 PM |
| #2 Actually, nuke power is the one thing I can think of that the Frogs got right. Back in the 70's, they built dozens of nuke power reactors, vowing to have only two sources of electric power, hydro and nuclear. They succeeded. When the various Greenie organizations tried to interfere, the Frogs simply locked them up. They did not tolerate the anti-nuke "dissent" that plagued the rest of the world and killed off our nascent nuke power industry before it got a good start. They have pioneered the "glass ball" system of handling high-level waste, and are world leaders in re-refining fissionable materials. For this success only, I say "Vive La France". |
| Posted by: Rivrdog 2004-10-03 7:20:52 PM |
| #1 Actually, this program makes a lot of sense. Turning weapons grade plutonium to MOX recycles the dangerous plutonium into something useful that can be used as fuel without mining any more uranium. The more of this radioactive material we can reprocess and recycle, the safer we all are and the more energy independent we can be. Now all we have to do is to implement the plan and get through the nutcase gauntlet. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-10-03 6:09:03 PM |