NukewatchUK – Page 3 – Watching Britain's Weapons of Mass Destruction

UNREADY SCOTLAND Report Published

Nukewatch UK has published a report UNREADY SCOTLAND : the critical gap in our response to the transport of nuclear weapons.

Based mainly on a survey of local authorities on routes taken by the warhead convoys conducted by MSP Mark Ruskell in the autumn of 2016, this report scrutinises the preparedness of the Scottish civil authorities to deal adequately with any incident or accident involving the convoys that transport the weapons. In Scotland the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) governs the responses of local authorities (and other “Category 1 Responders) to any threat to public safety. The Act requires Category 1 Responders to conduct a risk assessment of potential threats and to keep the public informed. None of the councils surveyed (ie those through which nuclear warheads are transported) conduct risk assessments specifically in respect of nuclear weapon convoys when travelling on their roads. Some councils claim to rely on generic assessments conducted by their local Resilience Partnership. None of the surveyed councils informs their public about the nuclear warhead traffic. There is also no evidence that the Scottish Government has taken any active step to ensure compliance with the Act.

“Unready Scotland” also examines in alarming detail the complex and challenging practicalities that would be posed for the civil authorities in the event of a serious incident such as were envisaged in the major Exercises Senator . The report concludes that there is no evidence that these authorities would be able to cope.

The MOD make it clear that their prime concern would be to secure the weapons themselves, while the Category 1 Responders would have to manage accurate and prompt public information (including countering false stories spreading fast on social media), complex evacuations in highly populated areas, as well as making arrangements for people to take shelter in their own homes. This would all be on a scale that has not been tested in practice. The responses reported make it clear that in this context bland assurances that all is in hand are impossible to accept.

The report points out the need to take account of the changing environment affecting the convoys, such as the rapid growth in social media communication and the recently adopted UN Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty. It points out that while defence matters are reserved to Westminster, community safety is wholly devolved to Holyrood. The report concludes by recommending that the Scottish Government carries out an honest and open review of the preparedness of the Scottish civil authorities.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Read and Download the full report

For a paper copy of the report e-mail us here

Sign the Petition asking the Scottish Government to conduct a review.

If you live in a Scottish Local Authority area on a convoy route write to your council about their response to the survey.

If you live in England a more general letter to your council with some questions can be found here

Donate to Nukewatch

Click here to get sent our Convoy Updates by email

Convoy breaks down on M40 – May 2017

A convoy of four warhead carriers with all the escort vehicles left Burghfield on the morning of Monday May 15^th and headed along the M4 and up the A34 past Oxford. As it was joining junction 9 of the M40 at around 11am it obviously had a problem and pulled over onto the hard shoulder with some of the rear vehicles stopping in a layby still on the A34. The police stopped all the traffic on the slip road so that one of the Mercedes armoured personnel carriers (APC)s could be turned around to face the wrong way and hitched up to the tow truck that travels with the convoy. After 45 minutes the convoy set off up the motorway and the tow truck with APC followed later.

Nukewatchers who had been following it were able to get good photographs which were passed to the press later on.

We later had information from a member of the public that it was seen in the north of Lancaster having left the M6 at junction 34, now with its full complement of APCs. It appears to have spent the night at Halton Training Camp and left there again on the morning of Tues 16^th May.

The convoy then travelled up the M6, M74, M80, M9 to stop for a break in DSG Stirling. After leaving there friends from Scottish CND took a good film of it. Watch it here. It then continued along the A811 to Balloch and went up Loch Lomondside and across the Haul road to Coulport arriving late afternoon.

Nukewatch reports increase in nuclear weapons transport during 2016

Movements of the United Kingdom’s nuclear weapons increased significantly in 2016 when compared with recent years which suggests that modernised warheads are being introduced into service, according to an annual summary of warhead convoy movements published by Nukewatch (available to download at the bottom of this article).

Evidence from convoy movements observed by Nukewatch is consistent with a programme for loading the first batch of newly modernised warheads on board the Trident submarine HMS Vengeance, which re-entered service during 2016 following a three year refit.

Nukewatch considers that during 2016 at least six loaded convoys travelled between the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Burghfield and the Coulport arms depot in Scotland, and at least five loaded convoys travelled in the opposite direction. These are believed to have delivered a total of up to 34 refurbished warheads to Coulport and returned 28 warheads to AWE for modernisation.

Although the total number of convoy movements during the year is similar to the past four to five years, the number of convoys carrying nuclear weapons has more than doubled when compared to previous years, with a corresponding reduction in the number of training exercises.

The pattern of convoy movements observed is consistent with an operation to return warheads equivalent to a single submarine’s complement to AWE for refurbishment. In December 2015 the Trident submarine HMS Vanguard entered Devonport dockyard for a three year refit, prior to which nuclear weapons would have been unloaded from the submarine. At the same time HMS Vengeance left Devonport following a refit, and re-entered service soon after completing a controversial Trident missile test-firing in June 2016, during which an unarmed missile had to be destroyed mid-flight.

Convoy movements suggest that over the first half of the year enough warheads were refurbished by AWE to allow HMS Vengeance to re-enter service in the second half of the year with a largely, if not fully, refurbished complement of warheads.

Production of the modernised and upgraded UK Trident Mark 4A was scheduled to have commenced sometime in 2015 and Nukewatch considers that the convoy movements observed in the first part of 2016 represented an operation to move the first of the Mark 4A upgraded warheads to Coulport prior to loading onto HMS Vengeance.

Over the period 2011 – 2014 a surplus of warheads was returned to AWE when compared with the numbers delivered to Coulport. Nukewatch considers that this is evidence that Trident warheads have been decommissioned at a slow rate in line with a commitment to reduce the number of UK nuclear warheads which was announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review. Over the last two years this trend has ceased and it appears that there has been a suspension of warhead decommissioning work.

Britain’s nuclear warheads are moved on a regular cycle between the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in the South of England, where the UK’s nuclear weapons are manufactured and maintained, and the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport, where warheads are stored prior to deployment on Britain’s Trident submarines. By observing this cycle, it is possible to draw inferences about the level of activity of the UK’s nuclear weapons programme. However, Nukewatch stresses that their figures can only represent an estimate of the true picture.

Jane Tallents of Nukewatch said: “The pattern of warhead convoy movements which we saw last year paints an alarming picture. The evidence suggests that not only are there a greater number of these deadly cargoes on the roads, but that the government is introducing modernised and even more lethal Trident warheads into service.

“While the rest of the world is meeting at the United Nations to draw up a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons, the UK government is unilaterally and illegally modernising its weapons of mass destruction”.

Download annual logs of convoy movements for 2015 and 2016 here:

Convoy log 2015

Convoy log 2016

April Convoy heads to Coulport

A convoy was spotted on the A34 near Oxford on the morning of Tuesday April 25^th. It had not been loading up in Burghfield so must have left from AWE Aldermaston.
On the morning of Wed April 26^th it was seen on the M74 just south of Lockerbie and then again at lunchtime on the Haul Rd above Faslane shortly before arriving at Coulport.

It had travelled via Stirling and some other road users who were pulled over by the police took a film of it.

Later that day and during the following day there were reports of various of the convoy vehicles being seen heading south on their own.

March 2017 Convoy – stays until April!

A warhead convoy left Burghfield on the morning of Monday 20th March and went by way of the M4 and A34 onto the M40. It left at junc 10 and travelled along the A46 to the M69. Just as it joined the M69 it was very spread out the police halted all traffic in atrocious weather conditions. The convoy escort waved other traffic on and the convoy vehicles moved onto the hard shoulder to reform. It then turned off into Gamecock Barracks. After a break the convoy continued north on the M69 to join the M1 and arrive at RAF Leeming late afternoon.

On Tues 21st March it was picked up coming up the A68 onto the Edinburgh Bypass at about 2pm. It then turned off to go to Glencorse Barracks in Penicuik for a break. Rejoining the Edinburgh bypass at Lothianburn it went via the M8 & M9 to Stirling then turned onto the A811 towards Balloch. Heading up Loch Lomondside it turned off on the Haul road to arrive at Coulport around 6pm.
However on its last leg as it passed above Faslane it was briefly halted by members of Faslane Peace Camp. There were no arrests.

After a record two weeks stay at Coulport the convoy headed south again on the morning of Tues 4^th April travelling through Stirling to Edinburgh and a break at Glencorse Barracks before heading down the A68.

The following day April 5^th it was spotted on the A1 and then the M1 and was tracked from the A43 onto the M40 and then down the A34 to the M4 and into Burghfield.

There was a lot of social media activity including a tweet from Member of the Scottish Parliament Mark Ruskell.

A lunch date at Gamecock Barracks, Nuneaton?

A convoy left Burghfield on the morning on March 6^th and headed west on the M4 then up the A34 and onto the M40. Late morning it turned off on the A46 and went around the Coventry Eastern bypass before joining the M69. It turned off into Gamecock Barracks near Nuneaton for an hour at lunchtime. When it left again the convoy returned south on the same route to Burghfield arriving late afternoon.

Nuclear Information Service report on nuclear weapons accidents

‘Playing With Fire: Nuclear Weapons Incidents & Accidents in the UK’ is a new report by the Nuclear Information Service that discusses the accident record of the UK’s nuclear weapons programme over its 65 year history, looking across the full scope of the programme and describing the most significant incidents in detail. It includes 22 incidents that have taken place during the road transport of nuclear weapons, including vehicles overturning, road traffic accidents, and breakdowns. For more information and to download the full report see here.

NIS has also released a video telling the story of one of the case studies in the report. This is the story of when a truck containing two nuclear warheads skidded off an icy road and overturned, told by people who were there at the time and featuring news footage from the following day.

Convoy October 24th 2016

On Mon 24^th October 2016 a convoy was spotted heading north on the M6 and by mid-afternoon was in Preston. The following day, Tues 25^th it continued north via Stirling arriving at Coulport in mid-afternoon.

This convoy had a fast turn around and left again on Wed 26^th Oct. It passed through Stirling and the M80 to the M74 and south.