By Alan Irving

Published at 11:09, Thursday, 26 April 2012

CLAIMS that two nuclear ships for carrying highly radioactive materials are potentially unsafe have been denied by the operators.

The vessels – Oceanic Pintail and Atlantic Osprey – are managed by International Nuclear Services (INS) on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

But Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (Core) claims the ships are being kept in service beyond their “sell-by” date.

Core spokesman Martin Forwood alleged: “INS and NDA are playing fast and loose with maritime safety by press-ganging the old Pintail back into service when she should have been retired and scrapped.

“Stemming solely from the failure to secure a new replacement ship for the Atlantic Osprey, this stop-gap use of the Pintail seriously compromises the safety of nuclear shipments and poses significant risks to the marine environment and communities along transport routes.”

But INS hit back: “We completely reject Core’s insinuations regarding the Oceanic Pintail which rely on innuendo and have no basis in fact. Oceanic Pintail is a world-class purpose-built nuclear cargo vessel which a nuclear safety record to match and has had 25 years’ of successful operations between Europe and Japan.

“Its recent plutonium shipment from Sweden to the USA is a great example of how Oceanic Pintail and INS can transport specialist cargoes in a safe and secure way and news of this voyage was put in the public domain within days of it being completed.

“Oceanic Pintail and all vessels operated by INS and PNTL are regularly inspected and passed as suitable to carry out their work by independent regulators.

“INS does not carry out nuclear transports unilaterally, it must receive permission to do so from independent regulators prior to its voyages. We also work extremely hard to maintain our safety record and do not take it for granted, something that our stakeholders and communities clearly understand,” said the spokesman.

Regarding the Atlantic Osprey, INS confirmed that a plan to replace her with a new build ship at a cost of £44million was abandoned in 2010 “because the economic climate at that time meant that a justification for the procurement of a new vessel could not be made.”

Core says the Oceanic Pintail – built in 1987 as the Pacific Pintail – was fitted with three naval cannon at Barrow in 1999 in preparation for shipping Sellafield MOX fuel. The guns were later removed and fitted to the Pacific Egret.

“INS/NDA are clearly putting business needs before maritime safety,” the group claimed. “Not only have they plumped for the cheapskate option of resurrecting the old Pintail but are also clearly prepared to ignore official reservations about the continued use of the Atlantic Osprey... we’ll be urging government to step in and stop this dangerous move.”

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk