Brazil: Greenpeace against lethal plutonium transfer

Greenpeace arranged a football match on Wednesday in front of the Japanese Embassy in Sao Paulo. The ball was marked with the nuclear symbol and the referee was dressed up as a skeleton.

The two ships, the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal, are at present anchored in the Japanese port of Takahama, waiting to transport the toxic load later this month to the UK. The material is a mixture of uranium/plutonium oxide, sufficient to make some 50 nuclear bombs. It was ordered by the Japanese authorities in 1999 from British Nuclear Fuels Limited, to be used in power stations. After quality control tests rejected the fuel, it is to be returned, making a second perilous journey half-way around the world.

Greenpeace has warned: “An accident involving the ships or a terrorist attack could spill the plutonium – one of the most dangerous substances in the world – with a half-life of 24,000 years in the oceans, poisoning people and the environment”.

Marcia MIRANDA PRAVDA.Ru BRAZIL

&to=http://www.rbcnews.com' target=_blank>RBC