Posted on 07/01/2008 9:55:41 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Hartlepool to break up France's toxic flagship Clemenceau
Charles Bremner in Paris
An asbestos-laden French aircraft carrier that was too toxic for Indian breakers' yards is to be towed to the UK for dismantling, it was announced yesterday.
The agreement to send the Clemenceau, once the flagship of the French navy, to Able UK, near Hartlepool, ends an embarrassing five-year saga that saw the toxic vessel wander the high seas in a vain search for a final resting place.
The stripped-down hulk, which once displaced 32,700 tons, has been moored off Brest since an odyssey that ended in 2006 when President Chirac called it back from India in the midst of an outcry. The Socialist opposition at the time denounced Mr Chirac for "lecturing the world on the environment while having other countries deal with our toxic ships."
The French Defence Ministry awarded to contract to Able UK after the British Environment Agency issued a waste management licence that allows the Tyneside firm to dismantle ships and oil rigs at its TERRC facility at Graythorp.
The biggest ship to be recycled in a European yard will be dismantled alongside vessels already at the dock, - including four “ghost ships” from the American National Defence Reserve Fleet and three UK ships. Hull Q790, as the former pride of the French navy is now named, is to arrive late in the summer.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
When it comes to defense, the French can’t get sh*t right.
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