Shipping nightmare
france is in the midst of another nuclear controversy. Barely four months after creating an international outrage by carrying out nuclear tests in the south Pacific waters, it is facing new allegations over the proposed shipment of radioactive wastes to Japan through the Pacific Ocean. Greenpeace (gp), the international environmental group, is planning to launch a campaign to stop the world's largest ocean from turning into a "nuclear highway'. In the event of an accident, the radiation would leak into the sea leading to a long-term environmental disaster, warned gp.
The waste is primarily made up of highly toxic plutonium which will be extracted later by the Japanese. According to gp, the ship carrying the waste will leave the French port of Cherbourg on January 16, for Mutsu, japan. It would expectedly enter the exclusive economic zones (eez) of the Pacific nations of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. The island of Kiribati has banned the shipment of hazardous wastes through its eez.