29th July 2006

Greenpeace published timetables of nuclear waste trains through Gloucestershire saying the public has the right to know what is going on, and to ensure the Government acts 'before terrorists do'. Plus Green party calls for inquiry into how a defective nuclear flask was carried through the area.

Photo left: Nuclear flask train (Reproduced here with permission of Martin Bond)

Cllr. Philip Booth, a Stroud District Green party spokesperson said: "There are over a 1000 transports every year carrying spent nuclear fuel. The International Atomic Energy Agency considers this transport to be the nuclear operation most vulnerable to terrorist attack - the casks have already been shown to be vulnerable to armour piercing rounds. Other than the driver and guard these trains travel unescorted. Apparently any train-spotter could work out the timetable - and they stop in normal stations, close enough for the general public just to lean over and touch - or as shown last week for a journalist to plant a fake 'bomb'."

Philip Booth added: "Greenpeace have once again highlighted the dangers of going down the nuclear route and the cavalier fashion this industry seems to take with our safety. The Government can't one minute say there is a serious terrorist threat then leave these targets unguarded. Every week, trains carrying nuclear waste trundle along our outdated rail network through our villages, towns and cities - including from Cam and Dursley up through to Cheltenham usually around lunchtime and only metres away from ordinary passenger trains (i)."

Philip Booth added: "Blair wants more nuclear reactors, which means more nuclear waste, more nuclear transports - and more terrorist targets. He is putting us all at risk. Nuclear power is not the solution to climate change. Two thirds of the energy going into nuclear, coal and gas-fuelled power stations is lost as wasted heat. Decentralised energy would allow us to capture this heat and use it to heat nearby buildings and districts - plus energy efficiency measures and renewables."

Additional comment in the light of yesterdays revelations:

Cllr Philip Booth said: "News that a train carrying a leaking nuclear flask from a nuclear submarine travelled through the area recently is very worrying. We urgently need an inquiry into how this could have happened and what measures will be put in place to ensure this doesn't happen again."

Spent fuel rods from the reactors which power the Royal Navy submarine are regularly transported by rail to the Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria. But a recent report says one of the flasks had a defectively fitted valve. The train passed through Bristol, Yate and the Wickwar Tunnel in South Gloucestershire then on through Cam and Dursley and on through Cheltenham.

From Western Daily Press Friday 28th July: "A report by nuclear expert John Large said if the train had been involved in an accident and caught fire, residents living near the scene would have suffered dangerous doses of radiation. He said: "Since these flasks travel through cities they could affect quite a considerable number of members of the public." The fault, in April 2005, was reported to the Nuclear Installation Inspectorate, which said there was only a "minor risk" to the public...Mr Large's report said if there had been a fire in the Wickwar Tunnel every home within seven miles would have had to have been evacuated within 15 minutes.

Notes to the Editor:

(i) For details of the times and dates of nuclear waste transport, download the timetable (pdf):
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/contentlookup.cfm?&ucidparam=20060721083707