The Bouguenais, owned by Morbihannaise de Navigation, was inspected two times in 2000 in the frame of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding. In Savonne, Italy, three deficiencies were found. In Antwerp, ten deficiencies were found. They concern the certificates of classification and navigation documents, the rescue equipment, the fire fighting system and the navigation security. One infraction related to the International Safety Management – ISM – shows that communication between those aboard and on land is itself also deficient.
Robin des Bois asks the Maritime surveyors at Cherbourg or any other competent authority in a country that signed Paris Memorandum of Understanding to carry out a thorough inspection of this ship, including, given the type of materials transported – nuclear waste or spent fuel — a radiologic survey for all structures, not only the hold, but also the deck, the living quarters, and the navigation area.
The use of such a boat (built in 1984 with a Cypriot flag until 1993) register Kerguelen, the French flag of convenience, with Pakistani or Filipino sailors, for the alternate transport of radioactive materials or general cargo like clay destined for the animal bedding, demonstrates the international maritime community’s collective lack of rigor. Today Australia sends nuclear spent fuel to France, but since 1996, the Bouguenais has also been used for the transport of spent fuel from research reactors in Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Greece, Great Britain, to Sunny Point, the US military harbor, without giving rise to significant backlash.
Imprimer cet article
