A decommissioned U.K. cargo vessel that once helped ship weapon-usable plutonium to the U.S. from Sweden has been completely recycled, ship operator Nuclear Transport Solutions announced this week.
The INF3-class Oceanic Pintail, a 3,865 metric-ton (4,260 U.S. tons) vessel, was decommissioned in Scotland by Dales Marine Services of Leith near Edinburgh, Scotland, said Nuclear Transport Solutions, a subsidiary of the U.K.’s government-owned Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The vessel was hauled off to Leith to be torn apart and recycled in November.
Nuclear Transport Solutions, formed in April, owns International Nuclear Services, which does business as Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd., which still operates the U.K.-owned company’s three remaining nuclear cargo ships, the Pacific Egret, Pacific Grebe and Pacific Heron.
According to an undated factsheet from International Nuclear Services, the parent company for Pacific Nuclear Transport, the Oceanic Pintail has carried plutonium to the U.S. from Sweden. The vessel has been spotted in the port of Charleston in South Carolina by the anti-nuclear group Savannah River Site Watch. Sweden shipped plutonium to the U.S. as part of a deal announced in 2012 by the Barack Obama administration during the final Nuclear Security Summit.
The National Nuclear Security Administration handles disposal of unneeded fissile materials from the U.S. and abroad as part of its roughly $2-billion-a-year Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation program.
