(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) It has come to the attention of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) that a new shipment of Vitrified High Level Waste will soon leave the United Kingdom for Japan transiting the Caribbean Sea.
It is with gravest concern that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) reiterates and intensifies its opposition to the passage of shipments of High Level Waste through the Caribbean Sea which constitutes not only a part of the way of life of the Caribbean people but also a principal source of livelihood and socio-economic activity.
The United Kingdom’s imminent shipment of radioactive waste follows a number of such shipments to date, each of which has been strenuously objected to by CARICOM Heads of Government, Caribbean business communities and civil society.
The Region intensifies its call upon all those involved to halt these shipments given the risk they pose to the lives and livelihoods of the Caribbean people.
PRESS RELEASE
Well the shipment will have to pass through the territorial waters of one of the islands to get into the Caribbean Sea, then I suspect it will exit into the pacific through the panama canal. As I mentioned before there is a very small risk of any leakage since the waste is vitrified, but I still believe that some consultation with Caricom should have taken place since there is some risk involved. The waste comes from spent japanese fuel rods exported to the UK from japan in the 80s and 90s for reprocessing….they are being returned to Japan for storage. ..This is expected to continue over the next 10 years.
As someone mentioned the Caribbean Sea is international waters however what I would like to know is how is the shipment getting into and out of the Caribbean Sea as it is a land locked body of water.
Hm. What is our leader saying about this? This is a serious matter. I want DNO to get a comment from our P.M. about this toxic waste shipment traversing our waters.
Yes this is somewhat concerning….why is the shipment route through our territorial waters? Surely there are other more viable routes to Japan….however at least they have stabilized the hazardous waste, since it is vitrified (solidified in very thick and strong glass) then the possibility of leakage is practically nil. But we ought to find out why they have chosen to ship through our waters and without our approval? Certainly this is a matter for the UN, if we have not been included in the decisions regarding this transboundary movement of wastes through our territorial waters. Our leaders should perhaps seek some redress under the Basel Convention.
i support the halt of shipments for a normal life of our people.
Why is the hazardous waste going to Japan? What is Japan going to do with it? Or is it going to disappear in transit?
Ban it from the Caribbean waters.
hope caricom do all in their powers to prevent this waste from passing through the caribbean. They tired take advantage of us. Only place they think they can allow that. let it pass through Europe we do not produce nuclear waste and should not have it anywhere our back yard.
The Caribbean sea does not belong to CARICOM ,It is International waters.