Cherbourg, March 22 2005 -- Greenpeace confirms that a shipment of U.S. weapons grade plutonium fuel (MOX) will depart the port of Cherbourg later tonight. Two British nuclear freighters, Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal, are scheduled to pick up the dangerous cargo this evening, with depart for the U.S. expected four to six hours later. The two vessels will transport the plutonium to the port of Charleston, South Carolina. Greenpeace views the shipment as a major set back to global non-proliferation efforts.

The plutonium was taken from U.S. nuclear warheads and transformed into commercial fuel by the French state company Areva. The nuclear fuel or MOX is to be tested in a nuclear reactor prior to the start up of a large-scale plutonium program in the United States.

“The nuclear industry is out of control. In Paris the IAEA calls for an expansion of nuclear power, while at the same time they warn for the danger from proliferation and nuclear terrorism. Meanwhile, less than a few hours away in Normandy, one of the most vulnerable plutonium transports is about to take place,” said Shaun Burnie of Greenpeace International. “The IAEA and their supporters in the government don’t want to face the fact that the nuclear problem exists because they have created it themselves by promoting the nuclear energy. The only solution is making an end to the trade in bomb material, a fissile material treaty and nuclear phase-out.”

Last week Greenpeace released a U.S. security assessment, which concluded that the U.S. transport was highly vulnerable to terrorist attack. Domestic French plutonium transports, with even less security protection, were considered at extreme risk.

Greenpeace advocates having all plutonium treated as nuclear waste not as potential reactor fuel. This approach would be cheaper, faster, safer, and more secure. It also urges a ban on the production of all weapons-usable fissile materials.

For further information please contact:
Yannick Rousselet - Greenpeace France, + 33-685 806-559
Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace International, + 31 629 001133

Photos and footage available upon request
Picture Desk: Laura Lombardi + +31 6 290 01 162
Video Desk: Martin Atkin + +31 6 27 00 00 57

See www.stop-plutonium.org for background documentation (currently being blocked through orchestrated external hacking)

Notes to editors:
1). BNFL currently has over 100 tons of plutonium at its Sellafield nuclear complex in the UK. It plans to ship 50 tons to Europe and Japan over the next 10-20 years. Areva, the French state nuclear company that manufactured the US plutonium, has between 70-80 tons of plutonium at la Hague in Normandy, all of which it plans to transport to clients in Europe and Japan within 10-15 years.

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems and to force solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.