NUCLEAR RISK ON OUR ROADS

I FEEL compelled to strongly disagree with the letter stating “I don’t think that there is much to fear from nuclear weapons” (‘Nukes not such a threat’, Letters January 29).

The UK’s nuclear warheads are manufactured, assembled and serviced in Berkshire.

They are stored in Scotland near Coulport and on nuclear powered submarines at Faslane.

All these locations are very close to large centres of population.

So, in the event of fire, power cuts or severe weather incidents to name but three possibilities, there is a risk of a major incident due to the devastatingly explosive nature of nuclear materials on the sites.

As manufacture and storage take place at opposite ends of the UK and nuclear weapons need to be regularly serviced, they are routinely transported on our roads.

Nukewatch is an organisation of volunteer spotters based in Oxford that tracks the movement of nuclear weapons convoys.

Nukewatch have recorded that, on 15th January 2021 at 10.14am, a convoy believed to be carrying nuclear warheads was spotted on the M6 at Carlisle heading for the Scottish border.

It was seen again at 1.30pm on the M73 south of Glasgow.

This was on a day during the coronavirus lockdown when Cumbria Police had issued warnings of heavy snow leading to travel disruption.

These facts speak for themselves.

I do not need to sensationalise the risks.

On 22 January 2021, 28 eminent anti-nuclear and environmental activists wrote to our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson asking his government to engage with the negotiations to roll out the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was coming into force on that day.

In the letter, they demanded an end to the dangerous transportation of warheads between Faslane, Coulport and the Berkshire bomb factories at Aldermaston and Burgfield.

The letter stated that nuclear weapons are dangerous security risks, not assets and are useless for tackling today’s major threats like Covid-19 and climate/ecological emergencies.

The UK cannot afford either the huge expense or the huge risks that nuclear weapons represent.

Arguments about their deterrent effects have in recent years been overshadowed by an acknowledgement of their devastating destructive power.

The United Kingdom has a responsibility to work with the global community and to stop ignoring the Treaty.

Joan West

Great Harwood