The Rainbow Warrior leaves Dublin to protest at two cargo ships transporting nuclear fuel from Japan to Sellafield in England.
For over a week the Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior has been in Dublin Port to highlight the arrival to the Irish Sea of two cargo ships carrying 5 tons of plutonium mixed oxide, or MOX fuel.
The ships are carrying the nuclear fuel from Japan to the port of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England, from where it will be ferried to the Sellafield nuclear power plant. The cargo is being returned to Sellafield after a British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) client in Japan refused to take the material.
Greenpeace believes the arrival of the nuclear shipment is imminent and is leading an anti-nuclear flotilla to intercept the cargo ships in the Irish sea.
Greenpeace nuclear specialist, Shaun Burnie denies the protest amounts to tokenism. He points out that 80 governments oppose the shipment, making it the most controversial nuclear transport ever. He believes such strong opposition,
Will have an effect on the future of this industry and we hope obviously that this is the last plutonium transport from Sellafield.
Greenpeace campaigner John Bowler points out how public pressure led to the French government ceasing nuclear weapon testing in the South Pacific,
If it can be done on one issue, it can be done on another issue.
The Rainbow Warrior leaves Dublin Port to locate the cargo ships entering the Irish Sea, bringing their protest to the attention of the world's media. Among those on board is Jim Corr, guitarist with The Corrs.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 12 September 2002. The reporter is Paul Cunningham.
