The Sri Lankan government expelled a cargo ship registered in Antigua that entered the country’s territory without notifying that it was carrying a radioactive cargo destined for China.
The Sri Lankan government found the ship carrying “uranium hexafluoride” in the Chinese-controlled port of Hambantota on Tuesday night. A diagram of the port of Hambantota. (AFP)
AFP reports that Sri Lanka’s Atomic Energy Commission said the cargo ship BBC Naples has been asked to leave the country because they were found Tuesday night in the Chinese-controlled port of Hambantota with “uranium hexafluoride” (UF6). (AFP).
Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Ranjith said the cargo ship did not notify that it was carrying the dangerous cargo “uranium hexafluoride” and decided to order it to leave Sri Lankan waters immediately.
The cargo ship came from Rotterdam, but the Sri Lankan government did not say where in China the ship was headed.
Rangis said it was illegal to enter a port without notifying that the ship was carrying substances that are used to make enriched uranium. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for nuclear power plants or to make nuclear weapons.
Sri Lankan opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has called for an investigation into the incident, describing it as a serious security threat.
The deep-water port of Hambantota, near a major shipping route in the Indian Ocean, was “leased” to China for 99 years in 2017 after the Sri Lankan government failed to repay a $1.4 million loan from China.
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