N-waste ship stormed

Press, 12 August 1982, Page 8

N-waste ship stormed

Six people have chained themselves to the dumping platforms of a container ship carrying nearly 3000 tonnes of nuclear waste.

They were on board the ■Greenpeace ship Sirius, which had intercepted the British vessel Gem yesterday. to stop it dumping the waste into the Atlantic about 700 km off the coast of Spain, said Elaine Lawrence, a Greenpeace spokeswoman. “They started clambering on to the Gem about 6 a.m. and they were all on board around 11 a.m.

“Apparently they are obstructing the barrels containing the waste from being dumped overboard. I think there is also a law that says ships cannot dump waste while non-crew members are on board,” she said. Miss Lawrence said that the six chained Greenpeace members included an Australian, Dutch, Germans, and Americans.

They were prepared to stay on board the Gem until she returned to her home port at Bristol, still carrying the waste, she said. ■

A spokesman for the British Atomic Energy Authority said that the storming of the Gem by Greenpeace was a breach of the injunction taken out in the High Court which had banned Greenpeace from interfering with sea-dumping.