One of the biggest protests of its kind began yesterday when Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior left Dublin Port to meet a shipment of rejected nuclear fuel bound for Sellafield.
A flotilla of some 20 yachts and boats is setting out to accompany the environmental group in its protest against the shipment of the mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel from Japan. The British Nuclear Fuels shipment is expected to dock in Cumbria this weekend or early next week.
The shipment of MOX (a mix of uranium and plutonium) was originally delivered to Kansai Electric Power's nuclear generation facility in Takahama, Japan, in 1999. However, when Kansai learned that some quality control records had been falsified by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), it refused to accept the fuel. After much negotiation, BNFL agreed to return the nuclear shipment at its own cost and to compensate Kansai.
The shipment left Takahama Bay on July 4th and is expected to arrive at the Cumbrian port of Barrow-in-Furness at the weekend or early next week. Both BNFL and Greenpeace said disclosure of the shipment's location would be dangerous for security reasons.
Mr Paul Vallance, BNFL's head of media affairs, said two identical vessels, the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal, were travelling together for protection but he would not say if the cargo was on one or both vessels.
Ms Kay Lynch, of Irish Greenpeace, said the protest was the biggest that had been held over a nuclear shipment. Protests had been mounted by campaigners all along the route, and up to 80 governments - many in the South Pacific - had condemned the voyage.
Ms Lynch said the organisers of the flotilla had received "amazing and unbelievable" public support. When the Rainbow Warrior docked in Dublin Port before the journey, it was visited by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, and the Minister for the Marine, Mr Ahern. Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny also visited and said the arrival of the shipment posed "an unacceptable risk" to the population of this island.
"As a politician and as a father, I am not prepared to conspire in the official reticence to challenge the British nuclear industry head on," he said.
Mr Kenny urged the Taoiseach to use his "pull" with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to remove the threat from Sellafield.
Mr Arthur Morgan, a Louth Sinn Féin deputy, will join in the flotilla of small vessels today. He said every avenue must be pursued to shut down Sellafield.
Mr Vallance rejected warnings about the danger posed by the shipment and said the UK's independent Office for Civil Nuclear Society had approved the vessels' transport plan. The two ships had been purpose-built and were in the highest safety category of the International Maritime Organisation.
