The armed Barrow-based ships Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret have returned home this week after transporting 331 kgs of plutonium and a quantity of highly enriched uranium from Japan to the US port of Charleston.
Barrow ships’ controversial plutonium cargo from Japan unloaded at the US Port of Charleston. Several weeks of an extended voyage from Japan unaccounted for.
After a 10-week voyage from Japan, Barrow-based ships Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron docked in Charleston’s naval yards in the early hours of 4th June 2016 – at least 3 weeks later than projected.
Barrow-based plutonium ships pass through ‘blacked out’ Panama Canal
The two Barrow-based nuclear ships Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret, armed with naval canon and carrying security crew, were located transiting the Panama Canal from the Atlantic in the early hours of this morning 6th February. On exiting the Canal, the ships are expected to reach Japan around 29th February where they are likely to … [Continue Reading]
UK ships involved in highly contentious plutonium shipment from Japan to the United States
Barrow ships Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron, moved from the Ramsden Dock nuclear terminal in the early hours of this morning 19th January, sailed from the port on the 7am high tide. Though the destination of the empty ships has not been officially disclosed, the dockside activities around them in the days prior to departure … [Continue Reading]
CORE condemns transport of plutonium fuel from Scotland to Sellafield via a storm-damaged and flooded rail network. Public safety compromised and security risks taken
Even before Storm Desmond had finished wreaking havoc in Cumbria and Scotland, the nuclear industry took it upon itself to transport a cargo of plutonium fuel from Dounreay, Caithness to Sellafield on a rail network already highly compromised by extensive flooding, landslide and signalling failures. The first of a series of consignments of so-called ‘exotic … [Continue Reading]
28-year old ‘stop gap’ ship Oceanic Pintail to transport highly radioactive High Level Waste (HLW) from Sellafield to Cherbourg for onward delivery to Switzerland
The International Nuclear Services company that manages ships owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has confirmed that the first ‘return’ shipment of HLW to Switzerland from Sellafield will be made from Barrow Docks in early to mid-September on the Oceanic Pintail. The ship will be carrying three transport flasks holding a total of some … [Continue Reading]
North Sea nuclear transport drama highlights supreme folly of NDA plans to ship highly radioactive materials from Dounreay to Sellafield [No 12/14]
Contentious plans by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to ship some 26 tonnes of ‘exotic’ nuclear materials (irradiated and unirradiated plutonium and highly enriched uranium fuels) from Dounreay to Sellafield have moved a major step closer following recent sea and port trials in Scottish waters undertaken by the NDA’s ship Oceanic Pintail which is based … [Continue Reading]
Riding its luck – Shipment of High Level Waste (HLW) for Japan sailed from Barrow today
The fourth sea shipment of vitrified HLW from Sellafield to Japan left Barrow docks at 10am today Friday 14th February 2013 on the ship Pacific Grebe, heading into the teeth of the next major storm to lash the Irish Sea. High winds had prevented the ship from meeting its original departure scheduled for the previous … [Continue Reading]
Nuclear train in level crossing accident [No 01/14]
A Direct Rail Services (DRS) locomotive hauling an empty nuclear transport wagon collided with a car straddling the level crossing at Silverdale on the Cumbria/Lancashire border at around 1900 hours last night (14th January 2014). The car driver managed to abandon the vehicle before it was struck by the train from Sellafield which carried the … [Continue Reading]
Barrow Nuclear Ships Update [No 06/13]
The decision to scrap one of the current fleet of nuclear cargo ships and assessing options to enlarge the fleet were announced today at the Ramsden Dock Stakeholder meeting at Barrow by International Nuclear Services (INS), the wholly owned subsidiary company of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The committee was told that the Atlantic Osprey … [Continue Reading]