A FLOTILLA of protest ships is heading for Barrow to confront the two freighters loaded with plutonium expected to dock tomorrow morning.

Around 20 vessels sailed from Holyhead accompanied by veteran Greenpeace campaign ship The Rainbow Warrior to object to the transit of plutonium through the Irish Sea.

The environmental campaigners believe that the ships are vulnerable to a catastrophic accident or terrorist attack, which could lead to large-scale contamination of the sea and coastal communities.

BNFL ships the Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal are in the home straight of their journey from Japan to Sellafield carrying more than 200 kilos of mixed oxide nuclear fuel destined for reprocessing.

The cargo of fuel, which came from Sellafield originally, has been sent back from Takahama in Japan after safety records at the plant operated by BNFL were exposed as false in 1999.

The freighters were last spotted off the coast of Portugal a few days ago and are expected to enter the Irish Sea by today or Tuesday.

The Nuclear Free Irish Sea flotilla has split into two groups to track the ships which could either round the top of Northern Ireland to get to Barrow or head south past Wales.

BNFL hopes mox traffic will become a regular occurrence with at least two voyages a year between Barrow and Japan carrying fuel from Sellafield's new mox plant.