Irish Flotilla to Protest Toxic Sellafield Ship

A flotilla of Irish ships will take to the seas this August in protest against the armed shipment of 255 kgs of weapons-grade plutonium from Japan through the Irish sea to Sellafield. The

Armed and Dangerous - a BNFL Nuclear Transport Ship

plutonium was shipped to Japan in 1999 but is being returned to the UK after British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) admitted to falsifying critical safety data.

The toxic shipment, due to leave Japan early in July, will be met by flotilla protests in the Pacific and Cape Horn - the southern tip of South America, as well as in the Irish sea. The Irish flotilla is expected to be the largest protest due to its proximity to Sellafield. It will depart from Carlingford in county Down, directly across the Irish sea from the Sellafield nuclear facility.

"The Irish community feels it has suffered because of Sellafield and people here believe that their protests have been ignored by BNFL and by the British government, said Rowan Hand, an

A yacht from the Cape Horn protest flotilla

organiser of the Irish Flotilla. "The Flotilla is a means of giving expression to high levels of concern and the interest in the project grows daily. In the weeks leading up to the August Flotilla we will be garnering the enthusiasm of our sailing friends and I am certain that a large flotilla will depart the historic port of Carlingford to make its protest" he said.

Ron van der Horst, another organiser who lives in county Wicklow, echoed the sentiments. "Quite simply the Irish Sea is not a dumping ground for the UK nuclear industry. The Irish people will not be bullied into accepting this; it is unjust and ultimately offensive. People are uniting all over the world to stop these shipments."

The ‘Nuclear Free Seas’ flotilla movement against plutonium transports was launched last year in the South Pacific with protests in the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia, as well as in Fiji.

Ron van der Horst from the Irish Flotilla can be reached at (0404) 47134, or 086 6055661. For further information see www.nuclearfreeflotilla.org