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SENATOR SAYS "NO TO NUCLEAR TRANSPORTS"
STATEMENT BY:
SENATOR STUART SYVRET
PRESIDENT, HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
JERSEY : The transportation of nuclear materials has always been an exercise of debatable value and of considerable risk. The transportation of weapons grade plutonium from the United States of America to France in the present global circumstances is an act of reckless folly and misadventure.
I have followed this operation with some care, given my responsibilities for the people of Jersey, and it is plain that not one intellectually credible reason has been proffered in defence of these plutonium transports. Even if we were to accept the incredible argument that keeping plutonium in circulation in the form of Mixed Oxide Fuel, or MOX was an intelligent action, are we supposed to believe that the USA, the most technologically advanced country in the world, could not have carried out their first manufacturing of MOX in their own country?
Why, when the most crazed and despicable acts of terrorism take place across the world, should the people of France, the United Kingdom or of smaller jurisdictions like the Channel Islands, be exposed to even greater dangers by the utterly pointless movement of nuclear bomb material and the most dangerous substance known to humanity? When peaceful campaigners can identify and locate these transports, are we supposed to believe that terrorists could not?
How can the west say to countries like Iran or North Korea ‘we don’t want you to develop nuclear technologies’ whilst our countries trade in the very stuff of atomic bombs? These transports leave the credibility of the west’s anti-proliferation policies in tatters.
I am an elected representative of the people of the island of Jersey, and am President of the island’s Health & Social Services Committee. The people I represent gain zero benefit from this movement of plutonium, as is true for virtually all the people of France and the United kingdom. Why do our governments allow this dangerous and futile activity even though it endangers our people?
The government of Jersey officially opposes the transportation of nuclear materials in this region and has, in the past communicated this view to the United Kingdom.
I hope that as many people as possible will engage in peaceful protest against such dangerous nuclear transports – not only upon the grounds of safety, but also to restore some credibility to the cause of preventing nuclear proliferation.
Senator Stuart Syvret
President, Health & Social Services Committee
States of Jersey.