Support for end of nuclear trains

9:02am Wednesday 15th October 2003

PROTESTERS are to present Ken Livingstone with a petition calling for trains carrying nuclear waste through the capital to be stopped.

The trains, which transport radioactive fuel rods from Dungerness power station in Kent to Sellafield in Cumbria, travel through the boroughs of Lewisham and Bromley.

Now campaigners, worried a terror attack on the trains could cause a “mini-Chernobyl”, are to hand the Mayor a 6,000-signature petition.

Members of the Nuclear Trains Action Group (NTAG) insist that with London on its highest-ever security alert it is vital action is taken.

Ann Garrett, of Bromley NTAG, said: “After September 11, America suspended all nuclear transport but this Government refuses to.

“These trains are dangerous at the best of times, but now it is reckless. Ideally we want an end to re-processing but a start would be to re-route the trains around London’s 11 million people. These trains will always be a target.” She has been backed by Brockley councillor and London Assembly member Darren Johnson, who chaired an inquiry into the matter in 2001.

He said: “At the time of the inquiry they pooh-poohed the idea of any sort of disaster threat but research in America before September 11 showed it could be feasible for the flasks to be punctured by an explosive device. It could have devastating consequences and be a mini-Chernobyl. This material is highly radioactive.” He will hand over the petition to Mr Livingstone today urging him to demand Government stop the trains.

Mayor Livingstone said: “Given the concentration of population in London, it is unwise to run trains carrying nuclear waste through the capital and I would ask the relevant authorities to stop this practice."

A spokesman for Direct Rail Services, which transports the material, said: “The design and operational arrangements, agreed with the appropriate Government departments, take into account perceived terrorist threats.”