Nuclear shipment bound for Australia sparks outcry
A ship described by one French MP as a “dustbin” has set off from France to Australia carrying a controversial cargo of nuclear waste.
Greenpeace and French environmentalists had campaigned for the shipment to be stopped. However, French authorities said the BBC Shanghai (4,900 dwt, 2001 built) was in good condition and allowed it to go, carrying 25 tonnes of nuclear waste from Areva’s reprocessing plant in Beaumont-Hague, near the port of Cherbourg, from where the ship set sail on Thursday.
Shortly before the cargo ship set sail, French Green MP Denis Baupin tweeted (in French) that Areva was “using a dustbin ship to carry waste, without any serious inspection”.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Ansto) said a full inspection of the ship had been carried out by both French maritime safety authorities and by the French nuclear safety regulator on October 14.
Equasis states the BBC Shanghai is owned by Briese Schiffahrts.