Category: Convoys

Campaigners have expressed alarm after part of a nuclear warhead convoy containing vital safety equipment got lost in the early hours of this morning en route to a military base in Stirling for a rest stop.

Activists from the NukeWatch network tracked the convoy as it left RNAD Coulport, on the Clyde, carrying nuclear warheads to AWE Burghfield, near Reading. The convoy consisted of two groups: the front convoy with three load carriers (each able to carry up to two, fully assembled nuclear warheads), police, Royal Marines and a fire engine while the support part of the convoy travelled a mile or so behind this. This consisted of a support truck carrying emergency equipment, a coach and a tow truck. The support truck contains spare parts and tools to deal with mechanical problems and also, vitally, the decontamination unit in case of an accident or fire which releases nuclear material.

NukeWatch followed this support convoy as it went from Balloch onto the M9 at Stirling[1] at midnight. At Junction 9 it continued on the M9 towards Edinburgh. It then left the M9 at Junction 7 onto the M876, towards the Kincardine Bridge. At the next set of roundabouts (which was the scene of extensive roadworks) it turned around, heading back down the M876 towards Glasgow and back onto the M9 heading north-east and back to Stirling. It left the M9 again at Junction 9, heading north on the A91 then into the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency (DSDA) ABRO base at Forthside, near the Springkerse Industrial Estate, within in the city of Stirling.

Adam Conway from NukeWatch, one of the activists who followed the convoy as it got lost, commented “There are only two possible scenarios here and both exposed the public to totally unnecessary risk. Either the main part of the convoy also took this route, in which case nuclear warheads were wandering up and down the M9, on a dark and foggy night, unnecessarily; or, the more likely scenario, the main convoy didn’t miss the turning, only the support convoy did. This is even more worrying as it means the convoy was separated from it’s decontamination unit for over half an hour. The support vehicles had no police escort, should they have needed to get back to the convoy quickly had there been an accident.”

Anna-Linnea Rundberg, who also followed the convoy, added “These horrific warheads should not be transported on our roads at all. The risks, including the admitted risk of a nuclear explosion in a serious crash or as the result of a terrorist attack, are simply too high. However, the very least we should be able to expect is that they keep such journeys to a minimum by taking the correct route and that they keep all the safety equipment with the convoy.”

Protesters had safely delayed the convoy earlier near Balloch when three activists from Faslane Peace Camp were arrested. By 9pm the convoy had arrived at its destination at AWE Burghfield near Reading in Berkshire.

Fact Sheet
Nuclear Warheads

• Nuclear Warheads are moved on public roads approximately every 6-8 weeks between RNAD Coulport, 30 miles west of Glasgow, and AWE Burghfield, 50 miles north-west of London.
• The warheads are constructed at AWE Aldermaston and AWE Burghfield then stored at Coulport before being put onto Trident submarines to be deployed.
• They must be taken back to Burghfield for decommissioning and for maintenance every so often before being returned to the Coulport arsenal.
• Each warhead is up to 100 kilotons. This is eight times the size of the bomb which devastated Hiroshima.

Warhead Transportation

• The warheads are transported on public roads, day and night in MoD Police convoys. More information on spotting the convoys is at https://www.nukewatch.org.uk/spot.php
• “Trident nuclear warheads damaged in a vehicle pile-up or a plane crash could partially detonate and deliver a lethal radiation dose” according to a MoD report obtained by New Scientist. See http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125594.300-road-crash-could-set-off-nucl
• A terrorist attack on a nuclear warhead convoy “has the potential to lead to damage or destruction of a nuclear weapon” according to the MoD Director of Information, David Wray, in May 2006. “The consequences of such an incident are likely to be considerable loss of life and severe disruption both to the British people’s way of life and to the UK’s ability to function effectively as a sovereign state.”

NukeWatch

• NukeWatch is a network of individuals who track the nuclear warhead convoys and campaign against them.
• NukeWatch campaigns against the convoys mainly because they are part of a system of weapons of mass destruction, but also because we believe that communities potentially affected by the convoys should be aware of their existence and the risks they pose.
• For more info see https://www.nukewatch.org.uk/

Footnotes

1. The whole convoy had been observed leaving Coulport and passing through Balloch, and was observed at Stirling going onto the M9. From then on it went ahead and, due to the dark and foggy conditions, only the support section could be seen from behind.

At about 5.00 a.m. on Thursday, a nuclear warhead convoy using a new route up the M1 en route from AWE Burghfield to RNAD Coulport in Scotland, took the Junction 25 Exit for Nottingham in search of Chetwynd Barracks. The convoy had already stopped once at MOD Bicester for a ‘comfort break’ – but that was more than 2 hours previously at 2a.m. At this point, possibly through tiredness or confusion, the lead driver turned left towards Derby by mistake and everyone followed – warheads and all.

Nukewatcher Tony Gillings was monitoring the convoy and his report speaks for itself:
“Now the bizarre part:- the convoy left the M1 at J25 which signs on the motorway indicated was closed, but it wasn’t. Then they drove up and down the A52 (Derby to Nottingham Road) several times, initially turning left to the west, instead of right to the barracks, which were about 3 miles east of the M1. There were road works at the junction, which may have confused matters, but the drivers gave the appearance of being lost because, as I followed the support convoy on the duel carriageway, we met the load carriers coming the other way!

At the final westerly A52 roundabout the support convoy of a breakdown truck, coach and large mobile emergency unit with its trailer, took an obviously wrong turn into a residential area and stopped for a few minutes, presumably realising their mistake and wondering what to do. They then took about 10 minutes to execute turns with great difficulty, using side streets, so that they could return to the roundabout. They were very flustered with personnel running about – and pretty embarrassed too.”

Eventually the whole convoy made it into Chetwynd Barracks for a well-earned rest before setting off again on the 21hour journey to Scotland amid political controversy north of the border.

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:

1. 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
2. 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.
3. 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.

The fifth Continuous Running convoy last year left AWE Burghfield on Monday 13th November, reaching RNAD Coulport early the next morning, before the Faslane 365 blockade began.

There have been 3 or 4 loads from AWE to Coulport and 5 returned to AWE for servicing in 2006. This suggests that some warheads have been scrapped, possibly 4 or 8. This would take the UK inventory down to 182 – 178 according to Nukewatch records.

If UK warheads are to be reduced rapidly to the announced 160, it could involve 20 being stored at RAF Honington in East Anglia to await dismantlement at AWE. This was the process for decommissioning Chevaline warheads in the 1990s. It is thought that below 100 would not be a viable complement of warheads to keep AWE in business.

A reduction is probably due to logistics relating to warhead servicing rather than any intended disarmament. The AWE Burghfield assembly/disassembly plant has been condemned by the NII and there may well be a go-slow there until the new facility is built. Warhead delivery into service is down on previous years at an estimated six in 2006. Interestingly, the SIPRI Year Book puts the UK inventory at 185 in January 2006.

In the light of the government’s white paper on the replacement of Trident, promising a reduction of warhead numbers to 160, Nukewatch data would indicate that, in common with previous defence statements, the process announced has already begun.

Convoys into Preston, Lancs.

Nukewatch provided a Full Council Meeting in Preston with information on the new use of Fulwood Barracks for convoy stops. While 12 Councillors voted to ask the MoD for more information, others were more complacent.

Nukewatch added, ‘The issue of safety is a serious one which the MoD are constantly addressing and up-dating, although recently this has focused on PR rather than safety. For example, the phrase “If weapon is jetting, lash spray branches & evacuate casualties through up-wind Control of Entry Point” has been removed from Local Authority Emergency Services Information Guidelines (LAESI Version 3) in the new Version 4 publication. (see NAR Reports on the MoD website).’

Safe, Slow Disarmament

Nukewatch’s view is that convoys should travel slowly on roads that are cleared ahead to return all warheads to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) near Reading in Berkshire where they can be disassembled and that no new warheads should be delivered to Scotland. Trident constitutes the real nuclear risk to people up and down the country and should not be replaced.
[Update: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has since estimated the figure as about 165, consisting of 144 deployed weapons plus an extra 15% as spares – Spares are usually needed within the supply chain, including the maintenance workshops.]