Russian plutonium

Palmyra eyed for Russian plutonium

Reports by David North

Palmyra Atoll, the uninhabited United States possession 1000 miles (1600 kilometres) south of Honolulu, could become the storage site for plutonium from Russia, if the propos al of a New York-based investment com pany, KVR Inc, meets with a favourable response from the US government.

The proposed developer, Alex Copson,

a British citizen, has broached the propos al with US officials, including represen tatives of the Defence, State, and Interior departments. Copson told State and Interior officials at an April 19 meeting that his firm has been negotiating with the major landowners of Palmyra Atoll and discussing the proposal with Russian offi cials. According to Copson, the Russians are interested because they do not have adequate facilities for the secure storage of this material which is used to fuel nuclear power plants and make weapons.

Copson said he had discussed the propos al with US Defence Department officials because the plan calls for the US Navy to provide security for the storage site. The proposed financial operations of the stor age facility have not been disclosed but a formal company proposal, due this sum mer, is expected to outline how the facili ty would generate the revenue for opera tions and, presumably, profit.

US officials have expressed concern about the black market sale of plutonium from former Soviet republics, since the breakup of the former Soviet Union. The major concern is that the plutonium, which is essential in the manufacture of atomic bombs, would find its way to nations that support international terror ism, including North Korea, Libya, and Iran. The world is in danger of atomic ter rorism, Copson says, and the kinds of ani mus that led to the Tokyo subway gas attack and the explosion in New York’s World Trade Centre could easily lead given a little plutonium and technical know-how in the wrong hands - to mass killings in any of the world’s cities.

The way to avoid this needless loss of life, he says, is to recycle spent nuclear fuel (raw material of atomic bombs) in a

joint US-Russian facility. Currently, there

is no such facility. Such a facility should be “equidistant between the US and Russia” and Palmyra is high but not at the top of his list of candidate locations. He would not name his number one candi date.

“This speck of territory [Palmyra] that

has never done anything for anyone in the world [should] be dedicated to to saving humanity from needless destruction... The Pacific Islands owe it to the veterans of World War 11, who saved the islands from a terrible fate” to make a contribution to the world by not objecting to the propos al, Copson said.

Palmyra was sold to KVR Inc earlier this year at a price said to be in the SUS36-50-million range. Since none of the principals in the deal have talked to the Press, it is possible that the transaction is still under way. Palmyra has been - or had been - the property of the Fullard- Leo family of Hawaii since 1922.

The tropical atoll, of about 50 small islands situated on a horseshoe-shaped coral reef, is about 400 miles (640 kilo metres) north of the Equator. The total land area is under two square miles (three square kilometres). The highest of the islands is about six feet above sea level.

During the 19405, the US Navy (which, in effect, seized them from the Fullard-Leos for the duration) stationed thousands of men on the islands, built a 6000-foot (1800-metre) airstrip, and widened and deepend the lagoon. The dredged material was used to join three of the major islands and build a causeway across other islands. The US Air Force used the land-based airstrip until 1961.

Except for short-term travellers by boat and a caretaker or two, the island has been people-free since the war. The US government has not expressed an opinion on the proposal.

The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, which the US finally agreed to last year, does not include Palmyra in its zone.

However, the US government has opposed other proposals to store nuclear waste on radiated isalnds in the Marshall Islands. ■