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Attack on a UK nuclear train would be a terrorist coup

particularly concerned about the possibility of an attack on the nuclear trains that go through the main Olympic site in east London, since a successful attack on one of them in its vicinity, whether during or in the lead-up to the Games, would be a terrorist media spectacular.

Video of UK protest Guest post: The Nuclear trains that threaten our safety | The Olympic Borough

The Nuclear trains that threaten our safety, The Olympic Borough, Dec 20th, 2010 by Dave.Anyone who uses Stratford station on a regular basis may have encountered this lot, the Nuclear Trains Action Group (NTAG), doing their best to raise awareness about what they believe is a serious threat to our safety and security.

……..The Nuclear Trains Action Group (NTAG) is a working group of London Region Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

It aims to campaign against the “nuclear trains” that carry radioactive spent nuclear fuel-rods in water flasks contained in so-called “flasks” from nuclear power stations sited around the coasts of England, Wales and Scotland to Sellafield in Cumbria for re-processing: this involves separating-out the plutonium and uranium it contains.

The fuel-rods from the older Magnox nuclear reactors are cooled by dropping into ponds to cool, but once in water they start to decay and so have to be re-processed within a limited period.

Fuel-rods from the later Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (AGR) are taken to Sellafield because there are no storage facilities elsewhere.

The flasks containing the rods are 2-metre steel cubes with walls 14 inches thick, weighing some 50 tonnes and are tested to withstand a range of situations, but not worse-case scenarios: they are subject to a drop test from nine metres onto a hard surface – but the trains routinely go over bridges over 40 metres high; they are subject test in which they are subject to a temperature of 800°C for 30 minutes – but fires in rail tunnels have been recorded burning at over 1,000°C for many hours.

The main use of the plutonium separated from the rods is in nuclear weapons, but there is a world glut of this highly-radioactive substance. Sellafield is currently trying to develop a market for “MOX fuel” which it produces by recombining the recovered plutonium and uranium, but programmes to develop “fast-breeder reactors” which would use this fuel have been given up everywhere except in Japan.

The dangers these trains represent are the following:

1. They continuously emit low-level radiation – and any increase in radiation means an increased risk of cancers. The increase produced is however a minor matter except in places where the loaded flasks stop for considerable periods since radiation dose is cumulative – these comprise nuclear power station railheads, sidings at Willesden Junction and Crewe and elsewhere where nuclear trains are shunted together and at Sellafield itself.
2. If, as a result of a serious accident the flasks were pierced, they would release highly-radioactive material that would blow for miles in the wind and kill thousands of people in built-up areas, and the trains run through many centres of population including London.
3. Terrorist action: if terrorists succeeded in piercing a flask, it would cause a terrorist spectacular; the trains are also very vulnerable to attack, since they travel thousands of miles throughout Britain and it would be an impossible task to guard the trains from attack from the trackside throughout these journeys. Furthermore, terrorists could deliberately aim to produce a weapon that would pierce a flask.

NTAG has been particularly concerned about the possibility of an attack on the nuclear trains that go through the main Olympic site in east London, since a successful attack on one of them in its vicinity, whether during or in the lead-up to the Games, would be a terrorist media spectacular……

Guest post: The Nuclear trains that threaten our safety | The Olympic Borough

December 21, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, UK, wastes