NukewatchUK – Page 6 – Watching Britain's Weapons of Mass Destruction

Nuclear Weapons driven through Glasgow.

On the 29th January 2014 a military convoy of 19 vehicles drove through Glasgow on the M74. It was bringing nuclear weapons from the Atomic Weapons Establishment Burghfield, in Berkshire to the nuclear weapons store at RNAD Coulport on Loch Long. The convoy had left AWE Burghfield in the morning on the 28th January and arrived at Coulport at 1.25 am on the 29th January.

The following motion was put down in the Scottish Parliament objecting the nuclear weapons’ convoy:

Motion S4M-08888: Bill Kidd, Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 29/01/2014
Nuclear Weapons Driven Through Glasgow

“That the Parliament notes with grave concern what it believes is the regular transportation of nuclear weapons on roads throughout Scotland; understands that, in the early hours of the morning of 29 January 2014, a 19-vehicle convoy, which was transporting nuclear weapons from the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire to Coulport on Loch Long, used the M74 to drive through Glasgow; further understands that such convoys do not carry radiation warning symbols and neither the public nor the local authority areas that they pass through are warned about the material being transported; believes that the majority of the people of Glasgow and Scotland remain opposed to the UK Government’s policy of maintaining and upgrading the Trident system, and hopes that public awareness of what it sees as this ongoing and dangerous practice will strengthen the calls to rid Scotland of nuclear weapons once and for all.”

Supported by: Kenneth Gibson, Stuart McMillan, Annabelle Ewing, John Wilson R, Chic Brodie, Patrick Harvie, Joan McAlpine, Adam Ingram, Mike MacKenzie, George Adam, Rob Gibson, Richard Lyle, Gordon MacDonald, John Mason, David Torrance, Gil Paterson, Dennis Robertson, Kevin Stewart, John Finnie, Aileen McLeod, Linda Fabiani, Fiona McLeod, James Dornan, Sandra White, Jean Urquhart, Willie Coffey, Graeme Dey, Colin Beattie, Maureen Watt, Dave Thompson, Nigel Don, Bob Doris, Angus MacDonald, Colin Keir, Stewart Maxwell, Christina McKelvie, Mark McDonald, Clare Adamson, Marco Biagi R

The news of the nuclear weapons convoy also generated the following press:
http://news.stv.tv/west-central/262327-nuclear-convoys-along-m74-pose-unacceptable-risk-says-msp/
https://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2014/jan/msp-condemns-risk-wmds-driven-through-glasgow
http://www.cumbernauld-news.co.uk/news/local-news/nuclear-safety-fears-for-cumbernauld-and-kilsyth-1-3353998
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/vehicles-laden-toxic-radio-active-material-3374671

Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA), Nuclear Information Services (NIS), Nukewatch and CND Joint Seminar 20th September 2013, Glasgow

The NFLA have co-operated with Nuclear Information Service, Nukewatch and CND to jointly organise a seminar to consider the post-Fukushima nuclear emergency planning regime and recent concerns raised in the media over the safety of nuclear weapon convoys from Aldermaston to Faslane and Coulport. The seminar will take place in Glasgow City Chambers 10.30am – 1pm, Friday 20th September.

This seminar, kindly hosted by Glasgow City Council, will consider the impact of the Fukushima disaster in reference to current UK nuclear emergency planning guidelines and whether there are any potential gaps in these arrangements at both military and civil nuclear sites. It will also consider whether there are adequate safety arrangements in place in the event of an emergency affecting a convoy transporting nuclear weapons from Berkshire to the west of Scotland. A recent article in ‘The Guardian’ of the MOD’s ‘Exercise Senator’ raised a number of significant concerns and the seminar will highlight them.

Confirmed speakers for the seminar include Peter Burt from Nuclear Information Service, Rob Edwards a freelance journalist for ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Herald’, Jane Tallents from Nukewatch and the NFLA Secretary. We are also inviting the Scottish Government’s Civil Contingencies Unit and MOD staff responsible for guidelines around nuclear weapon convoys to speak at the seminar, or at the very least provide written statements of policy.

Please see flyer: http://www.nuclearpolicy.info/docs/events/NFLA_joint_seminar_September_flyer.pdf

Scotland left to fend for itself during nuclear weapons accident exercise

12th June 2013

Delays and mistakes made during a major accident exercise involving a nuclear weapon would have resulted in Scotland being left to fend for itself by Whitehall government departments during a critical period in the handling of the emergency, according to an official report.

Also see Guardian report on Exercise Senator 2011

No official information about the disaster would have been available to the public for several hours after the accident, and disorganisation and delays in the medical response to the emergency meant that a seriously injured casualty who might otherwise have survived would have died.

The catalogue of errors is revealed in an internal Ministry of Defence report released on the handling of Exercise Senator 2011 - a rehearsal of arrangements for tackling an emergency involving a British nuclear weapon being transported along Scotland’s roads to the Trident nuclear submarine base on the Clyde. The report was released to Nukewatch following a request made under the Freedom of Information Act.

The real-life exercise took place at HMS Gannet, Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, in September 2011, roleplaying an imaginary accident involving a nuclear weapons convoy which took place on the M74 near junction 5 at Motherwell - one of Scotland’s busiest sections of motorway.

Under the nightmare accident scenario, the emergency occurred when a large goods vehicle travelling north on the motorway suffered a front tyre blowout, causing it to crash through the central reservation into a nuclear weapons convoy. A truck loaded with Trident nuclear warheads swerved to avoid the accident and tipped over onto its side, and as a goods vehicle carrying road-surfacing equipment swerved to avoid the accident, its load broke loose and collided with another warhead carrier.

Two casualties died immediately as a result of the accident, seven more were injured, and between 50 and 100 drivers caught up in the incident were contaminated by radioactive material released as nuclear warheads burnt in the fire caused by the accident. A plume of radioactivity drifted away from the accident scene placing nearby homes and property at risk.

An exercise evaluation report prepared by the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR) concluded that there was essentially no MOD input to (and certainly no presence at) the main strategic emergency control centre until Ministry of Defence co-ordinating personnel arrived five and a half hours after the accident – a realistic timescale for an accident in Scotland?.

The lack of support from MoD created “major difficulties for the multi-agency response, which struggled to attain a meaningful understanding of the issues”. DNSR concluded that the lack of support “over such an extended and critical period” was “not acceptable”.

Scientific and technical advice provided by MoD to local civil agencies was also deemed “not adequate”, with “no apparent leadership or structure” and “repeated changes in representation” from MoD staff responsible for providing technical information, who at times disputed advice provided by local agencies.

The accident site response for treating casualties “became disorganised”, and it was “less than clear who was in charge” of medical arrangements at the scene. There was “considerable delay” in developing a plan to manage casualties contaminated with radioactivity and “significant further delay” in getting agreement send paramedics into the contaminated area to receive casualties. As a result of the delays, exercise controllers declared that a seriously injured casualty who might otherwise have survived had died.

Personnel tasked with briefing the media about the incident were misdirected to the wrong location, “which delayed any effective media response by several hours”, meaning that in a real life accident, no official information or safety advice would have been provided by the government to the media and the public.

The police were formally alerted to the accident by a fax message sent to the police headquarters, leading the exercise assessors to drily conclude that “arrangements for providing the initial written alert to the police are not adequate”.

Over 1000 personnel from 21 different government agencies took part in the exercise at various locations across Central Scotland and elsewhere in the UK, and the exercise was observed by nuclear weapons specialists from the USA and France.

Several of the government agencies which participated in the event were critical of the MoD’s preparations for the exercise, with the Scottish Government commenting that “exercise instructions were sent out too late by MoD and arrangements were finalised too late”, impacting on the level of Scottish Government involvement in the exercise. Other agencies complained that no funding had been provided by the Ministry of Defence to run the exercise and that the exercise play had started before all agencies had arrived at the mock accident site. As a result, DNSR concluded that “more systematic arrangements are required for exercise planning, particularly when engaging with many agencies.”

Councillor Bill Butler of Glasgow City Council, a former Member of the Scottish Parliament and chair of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities Scotland Forum said:
“To hear that in this exercise the Ministry of Defence was not advising senior emergency service and local authority representatives for a large amount of time, that public information provision was poor, and that the Ambulance Service were not able to deal with radioactively contaminated casualties sounds the alarm that emergency planning arrangements may not be as robust as they should be.

“I urge the Ministry of Defence to take the outcomes of this exercise very seriously and work more closely with local authorities and the emergency services to resolve these planning gaps”.

Jane Tallents of Nukewatch, a national network which monitors the transport of nuclear weapons said:
“Far from being an benign ‘insurance policy’ keeping the public safe, nuclear weapons actually increase the risks that we all face.

“This exercise shows that, at the height of the crisis, Scotland would be left to fend for itself by Whitehall in the event of an emergency involving a British nuclear weapon.

“The Ministry of Defence should not be moving nuclear weapons around the roads on convoys if it doesn’t take emergency planning seriously and organise exercises properly”.

For more information please contact:
Nukewatch: Jane Tallents on 07778 267833 or 01968677401.
Nuclear Free Local Authorities: Sean Morris on 07771 930196 or 0161 234 3244.

Documents relating to Exercise Senator 2011 released under the Freedom of Information Act are available to download at http://nuclearinfo.org/article/transport/scotland-left-fend-itself-during-nuclear-weapons-accident-exercise (at the bottom of the article)

Notes for editors:

1. Nukewatch is a national campaign network which monitors the transport of nuclear weapons through the UK. For more details please see 192.185.186.105/~nukewatc

2. Nuclear Free Local Authorities is the local government voice on nuclear issues a cross-party group of around fifty local councils which tackles in practical ways, and within their powers, the problems posed by civil and military nuclear hazards. For more information please see www.nuclearpolicy.info

3. Video footage of the nuclear weapons convoy from the Nukewatch / Camcorder Guerillas film ‘Deadly Cargo’ is available online for use by the media at: http://vimeo.com/20872194 A short animated clip from the Ministry of Defence exercise video showing an aerial view of the accident scene is available at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fvxoyla1wxn9crt/Senator%202011%20Exercise%20video.wmv

4. Nuclear warhead convoys travel between the Royal Naval Armaments Depot Coulport in Scotland and the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire up to 6 times per year transporting nuclear warheads for maintenance and inspection.

Nukewatch obtains convoy contract details

Nukewatch has recently obtained a copy of the Ministry of Defence contract for supporting the nuclear weapons convoy, which was released following a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

The contract is part of MoD’s much larger contract with AWE plc for operating the Atomic Weapons Establishment, where the UK’s nuclear weapons are manufactured. AWE were awarded the contract to provide convoy support when the Ministry of Defence Police took over operation from the RAF in 2000.

Under the terms of the contract AWE is responsible for garaging and maintaining convoy vehicles, and for providing key convoy staff including drivers, convoy safety officers and firefighters, and vehicle and radio fitters.

Information about contract costs has been blacked out from the document, allegedly to protect AWE’s commercial confidentiality.

You can download a copy of the contract document here: http://192.185.186.105/~nukewatc/docs/convoy_contract.pdf

New trucks for the nuclear weapons convoy

The Ministry of Defence has taken delivery of new trucks for the road transport of nuclear warheads between the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) and HM Naval Base Clyde in Scotland.

The previously-used Foden Truck Convoy Heavy Duty Mark 2 (TCHD2) warhead carriers which came into service at the beginning of the 1990s are now being replaced with new vehicles comprising of Mercedes-Benz Actros tractor units and refurbished TCHD2 trailer units. The trucks are also expected to be used to transport special nuclear materials, replacing ageing High Security Vehicles previously used for this purpose.

The programme to replace the trucks was approved in 2007 and the new trucks are scheduled to be in service by the end of October 2010. Eight vehicles plus one spare tractor unit were scheduled to be ordered under the replacement programme.

The vehicles were ordered on behalf of MoD by AWE plc, which holds the contract for maintaining and operating convoy vehicles and managing certain elements of convoy operations.

Following a series of trials of different vehicle types last summer, the new trucks were seen on the road for the first time in July 2010 when a warhead convoy travelled from Burghfield to Scotland.

Safety fears after nuclear warhead convoy gets lost

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

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.

Tracking the nuclear warhead convoy… A new Camcorder Guerillas film

Award winning video activist collective Camcorder Guerillas will be launching their new film about Nukewatch in November 2007. The film will uncover how fully assembled Trident nuclear warheads are transported on public roads in secret convoys, passing large centres of population such as Oxford, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow on their journey between AWE Burghfield in Berkshire and RNAD Coulport in western Scotland.

Interviewing grassroots activists, environmental journalists and international disarmament experts as well as local authorities and fire services, about the dangers and illegalities of this deadly cargo, the Camcorder Guerillas offer an insight into an issue usually well hidden from the public. Find out how ordinary citizens in the Nukewatch network track and campaign against the convoy and its deadly cargo – and how you can help put an end to this nuclear madness.

Camcorder Guerillas productions: www.camcorderguerillas.net

Special Nuclear Materials convoy heads to the USA

A Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) cargo left AWE Burghfield on Monday 11th June in High Security Vehicle (HSV) Number 4.

With only two non-military escort vehicles, it traveled at 60mph to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire where it met a waiting aircraft on the runway. As soon as the cargo was transferred by fork-lift truck into its side loading bay, the plane took off for the USA. Nuclear warhead materials are exchanged between the UK and USA under the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement.