The collision between a heavy goods lorry and a train carrying nuclear flasks on its way to collect used nuclear fuel from Dungeness nuclear plant could have been a catastrophe causing many thousands of cancer cases and leaving parts of Kent uninhabitable, warned Greenpeace today
The train was reported to have collided with a lorry on a level crossing near Ashford in Kent. The nuclear flasks it was carrying to Dungeness power station were empty but on the return journey each flask would have contained as much radioactivity as a small nuclear reactor. If the collision had been with a petrol tanker the resulting fire could ignite the fuel and spread fine particles of radioactive material for miles around for people to breathe in.
Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Emma Gibson said,
"As long as Britain's nuclear power stations are kept operating and as long as dangerous nuclear material continues to be moved around on our railways, roads and seas, we run the risk of a catastrophic accident or deliberate terrorist attack. This time we were lucky but who's to say we'll be as fortunate next time."
The trains often travel over unmanned level crossings as well as bridges and viaducts up to 50 metres in height despite the fact that the flasks have only been tested to survive a drop from 9 metres, which is equivalent to a collision with an immovable object at 30 miles an hour. The consequences of an accident or sabotage leading to the flasks rupturing and releasing radioactivity could result in many thousands of cancer cases and left parts of Kent uninhabitable.
Comedian Mark Thomas in 2000 uncovered a complete lack of security around train transports of nuclear waste when he filmed the guard getting out of a train carrying a full fuel flask near Dungeness to open a level crossing barrier.
The nuclear industry is currently proposing building 10 more nuclear power stations. Each of these will produce approximately 40 tonnes of highly radioactive waste spent fuel each year which will have to be transported at some point in time putting UK towns and cities at risk.
The alarming train accident comes as a shipment of plutonium fuel is being prepared to leave Japan, bound for the Sellafield nuclear plant in the UK. The shipment, which could sail past several so called rogue states and through some of the roughest seas in the world, contains enough plutonium on board to create 50 "dirty bombs".
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Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255
