"The People Have Power"
(By WAND's Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow, Stephanie Broughton)

Strong protest continues against Project Parallex, the Department of Energy's plan to ship test assemblies of MOX fuel from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to the Chalk River research reactor in Ontario, Canada. The test is to be carried out in parallel with Russia.

On Nov. 25, First Nations staged a dramatic protest in northern Michigan involving a human chain. On December 1st, the MOX Task Force organized a press conference outside of the Capitol Building in Lansing. Following the press conference, a contingent met with a representative of Governor Engler who stated that the Governor would not stand in the way of the transport.

Spurred on by the Governor's inaction, six Michigan residents and one organization decided to sue DOE in an attempt to block the plutonium shipment on the grounds that DOE did not perform sufficient research on the environmental and proliferation implications of the shipment and did not hold adequate public hearings on the subject.

On December 7th, Chief Justice Richard Enslen agreed with the plaintiffs and at a court hearing in Kalamazoo Enslen announced a 10-day restraining order that temporarily blocked the plutonium shipment through Michigan ­ a significant victory for anti-MOX activists. Said Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Verna Lawrence, "It shows the people have power."

Activists then launched a weekend "NIX MOX Tour" leading up to the preliminary hearing on Tuesday December 14th. The tour began on Dec. 11th with a meeting in Sault Ste. Marie with Mayor Lawrence and featured a mock nuclear waste cask. On Sunday the tour visited Mackinaw and Saginaw and concluded on Monday near the State Capitol in Lansing.

MOX Shipment Allowed
After 3 days of hearings, on Friday, Dec. 17, Chief Judge Richard Enslen denied the preliminary injunction, lifting the temporary restraining order and allowing the shipment to go forward. The judge did, however, agree with the basic argument of the lawsuit:

"Plaintiffs have demonstrated a serious procedural injury which ordinarily would warrant remedy," the judge found. "However, due to the weighty considerations of United States foreign policy, nuclear non-proliferation, and the general interest of the Executive office ... the Court declines on equitable grounds to issue a preliminary injunction."

DOE is "pleased" by the decision, but has not announced when the shipment will take place. The itinerary will not be released to the public, but one indication is that it will take place in January. In response to the decision, Michigan State Rep. Andy Neumann, D-Alpena has proposed a million-dollar fine for transporting nuclear material across bridges spanning Great Lakes water.

Activists will continue to fight the shipment and are asking anti-MOX activists across the country and particularly along the transportation route to contact their elected officials to urge DOE to cancel this shipment and the entire MOX program. For more information or for a copy of the text of the judge's decision, contact Kay Cumbow at . To see DOE's response to comments on Project Parllex see: http://twilight.saic.com/md/announce.asp.

(Thanks to Kay Cumbow for this information.)

BNFL Scandal "Indefinitely" Delays MOX in Japan

In a victory for anti-MOX activists, Kansai Electric announced on December 16 that it would indefinitely postpone loading MOX fuel into its Takahama 4 power station. The decision came in the wake of confirmation that the MOX fuel, provided by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) included MOX pellets that were part of a batch on which quality control data had been falsified. In light of these developments, the MOX program at the Fukushima No. 1 Plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture has also been put on hold. Kansai announced it will accept no further MOX shipments from BNFL.

Until December 16, BNFL denied that the pellets in question were part of the shipment sent to Japan in September. Takashi Fukaya, Japan's Industry Minister, referred to the data falsification and cover-up as "deplorable," and said "trust in BNFL has collapsed."

The Japanese nuclear industry may turn to French or Belgian companies for future supplies of MOX fuel, a move that could deliver a fatal blow to BNFL's plans to open its Sellafield MOX Plant. Japan is also one of BNFL's largest reprocessing customers, and BNFL's THORP reprocessing plant generates around 60 percent of BNFL's operating profits, according to British utility brokerage firm Williams de Broe.

In an attempt at damage control, BNFL released a statement on December 16 apologizing to Japanese regulators for the "unfortunate incident," saying it "supports" the decision not to load the MOX fuel. It is possible the MOX fuel may have to have to be shipped back to Britain. Three BNFL employees have been fired over the incident.

(Thanks to Pete Roche for this information.)