91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳

Darwin uranium shipment delayeBy Tom Flanagan
DARWIN — Anti-nuclear protests have influenced Energy Resources Australia, the operator of Ranger uranium mine, to delay a scheduled shipment of uranium ore. On September 7 the mine's general manager, Ken Lonie, announced that a ship bound for Darwin to pick up the yellowcake would be turned back. According to the September 8 Northern Territory News, Lonie said the reason for deferring the shipment was because "the ship was running late, and on top of that emotions are running high". There have also been threats by the Maritime Workers Union to ban the shipment.
The decision to delay the shipment is a small but significant victory for the anti-nuclear movement which has consistently sought to highlight the Australian government's role in the nuclear weapons' industry — allowing the mining and export of uranium.
This was the same message given to Paul Keating, who was here to speak at an ALP dinner on September 5, by 50 protesters who chanted "no uranium — no bombs!" While Keating's Labor government pretends to be doing all it can to persuade the French government to abandon nuclear testing, it has refused to cancel the uranium contracts.
The back down by ERA indicates that it also is unable to deny the logic of the anti-nuclear argument. Its strategy seems to be to delay the shipment until the issue has died down. However, they may be facing a long wait given France's test schedule and the escalating campaign against it.
At 7am on September 8 about 30 protesters from the activist group ENuFF (Everyone for a Nuclear Free Future) gathered outside the TNT yards in Berrimah, where the waiting yellowcake is stored in about 20 shipping containers.
Matt Elliot of ENuFF and Richard Ledger of the NT Environment Centre, along with two Greenpeace activists scaled the fence, painted slogans on the containers and then draped them with banners. They remained on top of the containers until police from the tactical response group moved in about five hours later.
Elliot told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly that many of the containers were marked with labels indicating that they are bound for Antwerp in Belgium. He said that some of yellowcake was likely to find its way into French nuclear reactors. "This again highlights the link between Australian uranium and the French nuclear tests."
ENuFF is planning to take further action when ERA attempts to send the shipment. To get involved phone (089) 482 731.