Fury as Bomb-Grade Plutonium Sets Sail for France from US

[nannah]

So much information in this story: France and US engaged in cooperative venture, apparently ongoing for 20 years. what about freedom fries????

Shipment planned for 2 mos prior to election despite all lip service about extra security. what is the potential damage if this shipment goes awry??

where is the us media on this story?

Published on Sunday, September 19, 2004 by the Sunday Herald (Scotland)

Fury as Bomb-Grade Plutonium Sets Sail for France from US

by Rob Edwards

 
WEAPONS-grade plutonium, sufficient to make up to 40 nuclear warheads, is expected to be loaded onto two armed British ships in the US this week and then carried across the Atlantic to France.

snip

In the next few days will dock, take on board heavy casks of plutonium oxide, and head back across the Atlantic. After they arrive at Cherbourg, the plutonium will be taken by road to a fuel fabrication plant run by the French firm, Cogema, at Cadarache, north of Marseilles.

The US and French governments argue that the aim of the shipment is to get rid of "surplus" weapons plutonium by making it into a fuel for nuclear power stations. This is part of an agreement between the US and Russia that both countries will get rid of 34 tonnes of plutonium from "excess" nuclear warheads.

snip

Henry-Jacques Neau, head of transport with Cogema, said the shipment will have "the highest level of security" from British defense forces. BNFL points out that that its ships have an excellent safety record. "During more than 20 years of transports there has never been an incident resulting in the release of radioactivity," said a company spokesman.
www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0919-01.htm

[Massacure]

1. You have to get rid of plutonium somehow.

Better to do it know, than to wait a million years.

[MisterP]

2. they're not getting rid of it, they're just shipping it to France

[Massacure]

3. But they are getting rid of it.

"the aim of the shipment is to get rid of "surplus" weapons plutonium by making it into a fuel for nuclear power stations."

[KoKo]

6. Then it comes back to Charleston, SC and is shipped to GA to Savannah

River Plant for more processing. It's travelling from Rocky Flats, Nevada through the US to SC on US Hiways....

[airstrip1]

4. La Hague in France and Sellafield in the UK

have been processing most of the West's nuclear waste for sometime. Britain is estimated to be sitting on 70 tons of plutonium making it the biggest stockpile in the world. If anybody ever finds a way to blow up that little lot then you can probably wave good bye to planet Earth.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0611-02.htm

[Kellanved]

5. so what?

For example the German RWE groups is trying to sell 1.5 metric tons of weapon-grade Plutonium, originally intended for the Kalkar fast-breeder power plant. (Which never went critical and is now a theme park).
China and the US are interested, processing in France is an option.

[LifeDuringWartime]

7. what to do with nuclear waste?

i didnt learn until recently that the proposed sitein nevada is an extinct volcano...who made that decision??

they should send it all into the sun, like superman did. it would probably burn up before it even got there

[billbuckhead]

8. Why are the British guarding plutonium going from USA to France?