/ 1 January 2002

Nuclear fuel carriers will skirt Cape Town

Two specialist nuclear fuel carriers, Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal, sailed from Japan on Thursday for an undisclosed destination in the UK with cargoes of mixed oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel.

The vessels would travel through the southwest Pacific and around the Cape of Good Hope, a representative for British Nuclear Fuels and Kansai Electric Power Company of Osaka said on Thursday.

He said the eight fuel assemblies aboard the ships were being returned to the UK as part of an agreement reached between the two companies after it was discovered there had been inadequate quality control measures during the manufacture of the fuel by British Nuclear Fuels.

For security reasons no details of the position of the vessels during the voyage, nor of their possible arrival time in the UK, would be released.

The representative added that both vessels carried a complement of armed UK Atomic Energy Agency Constabulary for protection against theft, sabotage or acts of terrorism. – Sapa