NukewatchUK

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.]