from Sunday Herald, 17 August 2008
Greenpeace activists protesting against a shipment of nuclear waste on its way to to Sellafield put themselves at risk of death or serious injury, the UK nuclear security chief has warned.
Roger Brunt, the director of the government’s Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS), has accused the international anti-nuclear group of “recklessness” during attempts to board a boat carrying plutonium-contaminated waste from Sweden.
But Greenpeace insisted that its volunteers were “highly trained” and abided by rigorous safety procedures. The dangers they were trying to prevent were far greater than any they might have caused, the organisation argued.
The OCNS is the secretive government agency responsible for regulating security at 32 civil nuclear sites in the UK, including Dounreay, Torness and Hunterston in Scotland. Its 2007-08 annual report was quietly posted online on Friday.
In the report, Brunt recalled the protests against a five-tonne shipment of radioactive waste from Studsvik in Sweden to the Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria on the 5th and 6th of October last year. Three Scandinavian activists were arrested after climbing onto the nuclear cargo ship, the Atlantic Osprey, from inflatables in the Baltic Sea.
According to Brunt, the protesters “gained a precarious foothold on the outer hull of the vessel”. In order to prevent injury or loss of life, he said, the crew then took protesters on board.
“Whilst I unreservedly support the democratic right of people to protest peacefully, I feel that I must register my concern at the reckless disregard for their own safety shown by the Greenpeace activists,” Brunt stated.
“It would be an absolute tragedy if, as a result of such recklessness, we were now reflecting on the totally unnecessary death or serious injury of one or all of those involved in these particular protests.”
Greenpeace, however, strongly defended its protest, pointing out that it had a long history of taking direct action in potentially dangerous situations. “Rigorous safety procedures are always followed and are absolutely central to the planning and execution of our actions,” said the group’s spokesman, Nathan Argent.
“Action was taken by our volunteers to try and prevent a potentially illegal shipment of deadly spent nuclear fuel from being transported in international waters, which would have been vulnerable to both accident and terrorist attack.”
Argent added: “The dangers involved in this unnecessary and irresponsible movement of radioactive material across our seas is, in our opinion, are far greater threat than the actions of a small group of highly trained volunteers.”
The action against the Atlantic Osprey was organised by Greenpeace Nordic in Sweden, after the organisation failed to win a court ban on the nuclear shipment. Greenpeace UK is barred from taking protest action against shipments to Sellafield by an legal injunction won by the nuclear industry in 1999.
Greenpeace Nordic argued that the shipment broke Swedish radiation protection laws, and undermined 20 years of Swedish environmental policy. The Swedish government, however, maintained that the shipment was a special case as the nuclear waste came from a research reactor.
OCNS plays a vital role in minimising the risks of terrorist attacks on nuclear plants, but rarely says anything in public. Its latest annual report, written by Roger Brunt, revealed that it had a budget of £2.5 million, and a staff of under 40, including 15 security inspectors.
According to Brunt, there were seven potential breaches of nuclear security reported by site operators in 2007-08. These “warranted further investigation and subsequent follow up action,” he said.
But he gave no details whatsoever of the nature, timing or location of the incidents, saying only that: “I am satisfied that the security of nuclear material was not compromised on any of these occasions.”
Watch short videos of the Greenpeace protests against the Atlantic Osprey below.
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