Greenpeace follows illegal nuclear shipment in Denmark
Ystad, Denmark: 5 October 2007 – 15 Greenpeace activists in four inflatable boats are following an illegal transportation of nuclear waste on its way to the UK from Sweden. The Atlantic Osprey is carrying 4.8 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel, including 1.2 kg of highly radioactive plutonium.
The ship is currently west of the Danish island of Bornholm, where Greenpeace activists carrying banner with radioactive symbols met it this morning at ?? to expose that the ship is carrying highly dangerous nuclear waste, that should never have left Sweden. The demand is simple „Atlantic Osprey turn back to Sweden now!”
3 activists are on board the ship.
"The Swedish environment minister’s claim that the nuclear waste can not be dealt with in Sweden, is not true” said Tarjei Haaland, Greenpeace Nordic Climate and Energy Campaigner. „Sending the waste away
breaks Swedish radiation protection law and undermines 20 years of Swedish environmental policy not to reprocess spent nuclear fuel/”
The Atlantic Osprey picked up the nuclear waste on Monday in Studsvik, Sweden. The shipment is destined for Sellafield, UK.
Yesterday the Norwegian environment minister, Helen Bjørnøy, sent a letter to the Danish environment minister Connie Hedegaard asking her to protest against the transportation to Sellafield, as Norway has done
since June 2007. Bjørnøy stresses that she is very disappointed that Sweden is now working against a long cooperation with the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic
(OSPAR), to close down Sellafield (1).
At an OSPAR meeting in 2000, the former Danish environmental minister Svend Auken proposed a moratorium on reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, but resistance from the UK and France prevented the proposal from becoming reality.
„The Danish minister must work together with her Nordic colleagues to demand that the Swedish government stop this shipment and the /Atlantic Osprey /returns to Sweden” concluded Haaland.
Contacts:
Tarjei Haaland, energi- og klimakampagnemedarbejer, Greenpeace Nordic,
0045 28 10 90 53
Martina Kruger, energi- og klimamedarbejder, Greenpeace Nordic, 0046 70
550 29 13
Christina Koll, pressemedarbejder, Greenpeace Nordic, 0045 28 10 90 21
