The shipping of plutonium from Europe to Japan around the Cape is a co
ntentious issue which has raised public concern that South Africans ma
y be at risk to plutonium exposure should an accident occur. The paper
describes the containers in which the plutonium (in the form of pluto
nium oxide, PuO2) is housed and consequences of the unlikely event of
these becoming ruptured. Wind-born pollution is considered not to be a
likely scenario, with the PuO2 particles more likely to remain practi
cally insoluble and sedimenting. Plutonium aqueous and environmental c
hemistry is briefly discussed. Some computer modelling whereby PuO2 is
brought into contact with seawater has been performed and the results
are presented. The impact on marine organisms is discussed in terms o
f studies performed at marine dump sites and after the crash of a bomb
er carrying nuclear warheads at Thule, Greenland in 1968. Various path
ways from the sea to land are considered in the light of studies done
at Sellafield, a reprocessing plant in the United Kingdom, Some recent
debates, such as that on the leukaemia cluster at Sellafield, in the
popular scientific press are described. Plutonium biochemistry and tox
icity are discussed as well as medical histories of workers exposed to
plutonium.