Mafia accused of trafficking nuclear waste

Posted by bex - 9 October 2007 at 2:02pm - 2 Comments

There's a truly frightening story – and a sharp reminder that its failure to tackle climate change isn’t the only problem with nuclear power - in The Guardian today.

A mafia clan in Italy is accused of trafficking nuclear waste and trying to make plutonium (ie nuclear weapons). It's alleged, says The Guardian, "to have made illegal shipments of radioactive waste to Somalia, as well as seeking the 'clandestine production' of other nuclear material".

Eight former employees of the state energy research agency Enea, suspected of paying the mafia to take the nuclear waste off their hands, are also being investigated.

"An Enea manager is said to have paid the clan to get rid of 600 drums of toxic and radioactive waste from Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, and the US… with Somalia as the destination lined up by the traffickers… But with only room for 500 drums on a ship waiting at the northern port of Livorno, 100 drums were secretly buried somewhere in the southern Italian region of Basilicata."

The full story's here.

Article tagged as: nuclear power, nuclear weapons, proliferation

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Mafia Solves Nuclear Waste Problem?...

Posted by "feww" on September 16, 2009
Nuclear Waste Disposal Doesn’t Have to Be
So Expensive: says Mafia

The enterprising corporate arm of Mafia has found an answer (!) to the age old problem of energy growth: Go Nuclear!

And don’t worry about the astronomical cost of “disposing” of the permanent waste. They will dump it in the ocean for you at premium prices.

Italian authorities have located the wreck of a vessel with 180 barrels of toxic waste on board, which they say was sunk by the mafia, off the south coast of Italy. The sunken ship is reported to be one of more than 30 scuttled by Cosa Nostra.

(Photo: ANSA.it)

Italian officials say the 110-meter long sunken vessel, which lay in 500 meters of water in the Tyrrhenian sea, may contain radioactive waste, a report said.

The ship’s location was revealed by Francesco Fonti, an ex-member of Calabria’s feared ‘Ndrangheta crime group, who confessed to using explosives to sink this vessel and two others.

Greco said investigators believed there were 32 ships carrying toxic waste sunk by the mafia since the introduction of tighter environmental legislation in the 1980s made illegal waste disposal a lucrative business for crime groups.

"The Mediterranean is 0.7 percent of the world's seas. If in this tiny portion there are more than 30 (toxic waste) shipwrecks, imagine what there could be elsewhere," he said.

http://feww.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/mafia-solves-nuclear-waste-problem

http://EcoDelMar.org/tradition

By larry.keylargo - 17 September 2009 at 3:35pm

Mafia Solves Nuclear Waste Problem?... Posted by "feww" on September 16, 2009 Nuclear Waste Disposal Doesn’t Have to Be So Expensive: says Mafia The enterprising corporate arm of Mafia has found an answer (!) to the age old problem of energy growth: Go Nuclear! And don’t worry about the astronomical cost of “disposing” of the permanent waste. They will dump it in the ocean for you at premium prices. Italian authorities have located the wreck of a vessel with 180 barrels of toxic waste on board, which they say was sunk by the mafia, off the south coast of Italy. The sunken ship is reported to be one of more than 30 scuttled by Cosa Nostra. (Photo: ANSA.it) Italian officials say the 110-meter long sunken vessel, which lay in 500 meters of water in the Tyrrhenian sea, may contain radioactive waste, a report said. The ship’s location was revealed by Francesco Fonti, an ex-member of Calabria’s feared ‘Ndrangheta crime group, who confessed to using explosives to sink this vessel and two others. Greco said investigators believed there were 32 ships carrying toxic waste sunk by the mafia since the introduction of tighter environmental legislation in the 1980s made illegal waste disposal a lucrative business for crime groups. "The Mediterranean is 0.7 percent of the world's seas. If in this tiny portion there are more than 30 (toxic waste) shipwrecks, imagine what there could be elsewhere," he said. http://feww.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/mafia-solves-nuclear-waste-problem http://EcoDelMar.org/tradition

By larry.keylargo - 17 September 2009 at 3:35pm