NZ says nuclear ships not welcome in waters
Date: 08-Jul-02
Country: NEW ZEALAND
Although the route is secret, previous such shipments have passed through the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia.
The first of the ships, carrying a potentially weapons-usable mix of plutonium and uranium oxides (MOX), left the Japanese port of Takahama last week.
"We have advised both Britain and Japan of our opposition to such shipments through the Pacific," Foreign Minister Phil Goff said in a statement.
"While acknowledging the safeguards which have been put in place, these do not eliminate risks posed by accident or by terrorist attacks," he said.
The MOX fuel is being returned to state-owned British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) after Japan's Kansai Electric Power Co Inc discovered that data for a 1999 shipment from Britain had been deliberately falsified.
Goff said New Zealand Airforce planes would track the ships to ensure they did not enter New Zealand waters.
"As in the past we have sought and received assurance that this shipment will not enter New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone, other than in a humanitarian emergency," he said in a statement.
"New Zealand is also seeking the transport states to accept full responsibility and liability for compensation for any accident that might occur."
Meanwhile, Greenpeace said a flotilla of yachts plans to gather next week in the northern Tasman Sea to wait for the two ships.