Adds departure of the two ships to Japan
CHERBOURG (awp/afp) – Two boats carrying MOX, a nuclear fuel containing plutonium, left the port of Cherbourg (Manche) on Saturday morning for Japan, where they are to deliver their cargo in November, noted a photographer from the AFP.
“The specialized ships Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret of the British company PNTL left the port of Cherbourg,” wrote the French nuclear group Orano in a press release.
“We transported the second packaging of MOX fuel, which left the Orano La Hague site to the port of Cherbourg, and the packaging was then loaded onto the boat,” Orano explained to AFP a little earlier in the morning.
The loading operation was carried out “successfully” and it is the second package sent to Cherbourg, from the city of La Hague located 20 km away, after the one which arrived in the Normandy port on September 7.
A technical problem – the failure of a lifting gantry – had then prevented the departure of nuclear fuel for Japan.
“The transport should arrive in Japanese territorial waters during the month of November”, detailed the nuclear group in its press release, recalling that this is the eighth time that Orano has transported MOX from France to Japan.
The cargo was loaded around 3:00 a.m. at the port, where the police were present, then the ships started their journey a little before 10:00 a.m., according to the AFP photographer.
The previous transport of MOX from Cherbourg to Japan dates back to September 2021 and the ship had then left the port in the afternoon following the morning fuel loading.
Justice had planned a fine of 75,000 euros for anyone approaching the MOX.
According to Orano, MOX is a nuclear fuel that allows the recycling of spent fuel. It is made from materials from fuels irradiated in power plants to produce electricity.
“In a world today extremely destabilized, in crisis with Russia as well as with China and Taiwan, transporting such dangerous materials from the point of view of nuclear proliferation is completely irresponsible”, had for his part estimated end of August Yannick Rousselet of Greenpeace France.
According to Orano, “the plutonium contained in the MOX is not the same as that used by the military”.
jfm-faa/mpm