 The Pacific Pintail is one of the two cargo ships being used |
Two cargo ships have begun their journey to pick up a shipment of nuclear material which will be shipped past the Channel Islands. About 140kg of weapons-grade plutonium is being transported by British Nuclear Fuels (BNF) from the United States to a processing plant in France.
Greenpeace has condemned the operation, saying the ships are insufficiently protected from the risk of an attack.
Transport company Cogema-Areva says their fears are unjustified.
The one-off shipment from Charleston on the east coast of the USA will pass north of the islands later this month on its way to the French port of Cherbourg.
From there, it will be transported to the south of France to be processed and converted into mixed oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel.
The two armed BNF ships carrying the plutonium, Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal, will pass within 50km (30 miles) of Jersey and Guernsey.
American observers will shadow the operation, because at a later date, if the trial shipment is deemed successful, permission will be sought from the US government to build a MOX nuclear fuel production factory on US soil.
One-Minute World News 
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