The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, will meet Greenpeace activists aboard the Rainbow Warrior in Dublin Port today, in a "mutual exchange of views on the transportation of spent nuclear fuel rods up the Irish Sea".
The MOX fuel rods, which are being shipped from Japan, are due in the BNFL reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, England, sometime later this month, possibly this week.
However amid more general concerns about the safety of ships carrying nuclear fuel, the Irish Government has expressed concern to its British counterpart about the prospects for the shipment which will be travelling on September 11th, the first anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Centre.
However Mr Cullen's visit to the Rainbow Warrior should not be seen as whole-hearted endorsement of Greenpeace tactics, a spokesman for the Department explained yesterday. "It is more of an exchange of views," he added. The Minister will be stressing the need for safety in any protest action, he said.
The Department is expected to announce this morning whether Mr Cullen will actually go out to sea with activists on the boat this afternoon. The actual date the nuclear rods are being transported in the Irish Sea has not been disclosed.
BNFL has warned protesters they are risking injury or death. The company accused Greenpeace of "irresponsibility" after activists protested in the path of two ships carrying rejected MOX fuel off the west coast of Australia, last month.
