nuclear-news

Locals call for transparency after nuclear drill

Vikki Irwin, BBC political reporter, Suffolk, Matt Precey, Suffolk,
 BBC 22nd April 2025

People living near a US airbase earmarked to house nuclear weapons say they are being left in the dark about what would happen in the event of a radiation alert.

It comes after a drill simulating an accident involving such material was held, with personnel from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk taking part.

Nick Timothy, Conservative MP for West Suffolk, said while the US military was “welcome”, there needed to be “transparency as far as possible on issues like this exercise”.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman said: “Exercise Diamond Dragon demonstrated our preparedness to respond to any incident, no matter how unlikely”……………………………………….

The Suffolk Resilience Forum, which leads on emergency planning in the county, confirmed the scenario in both instances was a simulated crash in the UK of a US aircraft carrying “defence nuclear materials”.

Lakenheath Parish Council chairman Gerald Kelly said he had been told informally about the latest drill.

He said the area had an emergency plan, but added: “There is nothing in there about this sort of incident.”

The MoD should inform residents “what it wants us to do” if the event of an incident, he said.

Mr Kelly called for a siren system to be installed and for the local community to be involved in any future exercises.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde2dyk5rjpo

April 24, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, UK