Activists today expressed their anger that the Ministry of Defence had transported six, fully armed nuclear warheads along the Edinburgh Bypass just the day after the new Parliament was sworn in.
Citizens Weapons Inspectors from the Nukewatch network tracked the warhead convoy from the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Burghfield (50 miles west of London) to RNAD Coulport (35 miles north-west of Glasgow).
“The new Parliament was only sworn in yesterday – technically they haven’t even finished their first meeting yet. When they do start considering business one thing on their Agenda will be two Bills left over from the previous Parliament both aimed at keeping these Weapons of Mass Destruction off Scottish Roads.” said Adam Conway, one of the Nukewatch Inspectors from Helensburgh.
“Yet today the MoD chose, for the first time in many years, to send a nuclear convoy through Edinburgh. They must have been trying to send a message to the new Parliament – it looks to me like the message is one of arrogance and contempt for the Scottish people.”
“This Parliament has a golden opportunity to convert the Scottish people’s widespread opposition to nuclear weapons into the practical and concrete removal of Trident from Scotland” said Anna-Linnea Rundberg, also from Helensburgh.
Notes to Editors:
- Nukewatch is a UK wide network of Citizens Weapons Inspectors who track movements of nuclear weapons within the UK. For more info see https://www.nukewatch.org.uk
- Each of the “Load Carrier” trucks in the convoy can carry two fully armed Trident nuclear warheads. Each Load Carrier therefore contains up to 8kg of Plutonium. Each warhead is 8 times the power of the bomb which destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
- The Government finally admitted last year, in response to FOI requests, that the warheads could explode if the convoy was involved in a “pile-up” accident.
