British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) has rejected claims by environmental campaigners that two ships transporting radioactive plutonium from Japan represented a terrorist target and a serious environmental risk.
BNFL has received a storm of criticism over the transportation of the nuclear fuel from Takahama for recycling at its plant in Sellafield, Cumbria. Greenpeace claim the ships' five-tonne cargo contains enough plutonium to make 50 nuclear weapons should it fall into terrorist hands.
A BNFL spokesman said Greenpeace was entitled to protest but insisted a terrorist attack on the nuclear shipments or a radiation threat to other countries during transportation was "far beyond the bounds of reality".
The ships, the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal, are en route to Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, where they are expected to dock today or Tuesday morning.
"There is plutonium within this fuel and that is why we are taking the security measures that we are taking, but I think it is misleading that Greenpeace says it could be used to make nuclear weapons," a BNFL spokesman said.
"Security assessments have concluded that there is no credible threat to these shipments as we have multiple and many layers of defence which would actually impede an attempt at removal of the cargo.
"And even a terrorist would need something akin to a very large assembly facility such as the one at Sellafield to then go on and remove the plutonium, so saying that the plutonium is 'weapons usable' is several stages from reality."
The spokesman added: "Even if the MOX fuel itself was exposed to the environment, then that would result in a radiation dose no greater than one millionth of what people would receive from normal background radiation."
Four members of an Irish environmental group have been charged with public order offences after they chained themselves together on the roof of the Sellafield visitors' centre.
They said they were protesting against what they described as disinformation disseminated about nuclear power by the centre.
All four were released on bail after their weekend protest and are due to appear before Whitehaven Magistrates' Court on September 24th.
A spokesman for BNFL said the incident was now in the hands of Cumbria police.