Air force to track nuclear shipments through Tasman Sea

11.15am

The air force will track two ships carrying nuclear fuel through the Tasman Sea, Defence Minister Mark Burton said today.

The Pacific Pintail and its escort Pacific Teal have left Japan carrying rejected plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel back to the United Kingdom.

Mr Burton said the Government had been advised the two vessels would travel through international waters between New Zealand and Australia.

"We expect that, as with previous shipments, the vessels will stay well clear of New Zealand's 200-mile exclusive economic zone."

However, the Defence Force's joint force operational headquarters at Trentham would closely monitor the vessels' progress.

An air force Orion would be sent to locate the vessels and track their progress through the Tasman Sea, he said.

In March last year, an Orion located and photographed the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal transporting MOX fuel from Europe to Japan.

Both Mr Burton and Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff, in separate statements, reiterated New Zealand's opposition to shipments of nuclear material with Mr Goff saying Britain and Japan had been advised of this.

In the past, New Zealand had been assured nuclear shipments would not enter its exclusive economic zone other than in a humanitarian emergency and these assurances had been honoured, Mr Goff said.

The Orion surveillance flights would verify this.

"While acknowledging the safeguards which have been put in place, these do not eliminate risks posed by accident or by terrorist attacks."

Mr Goff said New Zealand would continue to insist on the highest possible safety standards and proper advance notification and consultation with states in regions the shipments passed through.

New Zealand wants the countries transporting the nuclear waste to accept full responsibility and liability for compensation for any accident that might occur.

These countries refuse, despite saying the shipments are safe.

"New Zealand will continue with these efforts and to insist that no shipment of nuclear fuel or waste should come within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone," Mr Goff said.

Environmental groups have protested against the nuclear shipments.

A fleet of yachts was also due leave New Zealand this week to join a flotilla in the Tasman Sea to protest against the shipment.

- NZPA