An international shipping website is publishing co-ordinates of the nuclear shipment after its departure from Port Kembla harbour.Despite a veil of secrecy and extensive anti-terrorism measures for the transfer of the spent nuclear rods over land through Wollongong, the website is carrying up-to-date information about the vessel, MV Lynx, including its location at sea and its expected arrival time in the United States.Even those who do not know the ship's name can find its path, simply by searching for ships which have recently left the country.The Mercury will not publish its web address.The Australian national nuclear research and development organisation and police refused to comment on the operation yesterday for security reasons.The city's major roads were locked down for several hours for the operation.Security was so tight in the early hours of yesterday morning that the tops and bottoms of all road bridges along the shipment's route were blocked by police and workers at Port Kembla had their mobile phones confiscated by police to prevent them sending out any information.Wollongong City Council's position that the city is a nuclear-free zone, resolved in 1980, proved meaningless.General manager David Farmer had written to ANSTO informing the federal agency of the council's position, which was that "it would prohibit the mining, storing, manufacturing, transporting and shipping of fissionable nuclear materials, by-products and wastes".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading