The fifth Continuous Running convoy last year left AWE Burghfield on Monday 13th November, reaching RNAD Coulport early the next morning, before the Faslane 365 blockade began.
There have been 3 or 4 loads from AWE to Coulport and 5 returned to AWE for servicing in 2006. This suggests that some warheads have been scrapped, possibly 4 or 8. This would take the UK inventory down to 182 – 178 according to Nukewatch records.
If UK warheads are to be reduced rapidly to the announced 160, it could involve 20 being stored at RAF Honington in East Anglia to await dismantlement at AWE. This was the process for decommissioning Chevaline warheads in the 1990s. It is thought that below 100 would not be a viable complement of warheads to keep AWE in business.
A reduction is probably due to logistics relating to warhead servicing rather than any intended disarmament. The AWE Burghfield assembly/disassembly plant has been condemned by the NII and there may well be a go-slow there until the new facility is built. Warhead delivery into service is down on previous years at an estimated six in 2006. Interestingly, the SIPRI Year Book puts the UK inventory at 185 in January 2006.
In the light of the government’s white paper on the replacement of Trident, promising a reduction of warhead numbers to 160, Nukewatch data would indicate that, in common with previous defence statements, the process announced has already begun.
Convoys into Preston, Lancs.
Nukewatch provided a Full Council Meeting in Preston with information on the new use of Fulwood Barracks for convoy stops. While 12 Councillors voted to ask the MoD for more information, others were more complacent.
Nukewatch added, ‘The issue of safety is a serious one which the MoD are constantly addressing and up-dating, although recently this has focused on PR rather than safety. For example, the phrase “If weapon is jetting, lash spray branches & evacuate casualties through up-wind Control of Entry Point” has been removed from Local Authority Emergency Services Information Guidelines (LAESI Version 3) in the new Version 4 publication. (see NAR Reports on the MoD website).’
Safe, Slow Disarmament
Nukewatch’s view is that convoys should travel slowly on roads that are cleared ahead to return all warheads to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) near Reading in Berkshire where they can be disassembled and that no new warheads should be delivered to Scotland. Trident constitutes the real nuclear risk to people up and down the country and should not be replaced.
[Update: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has since estimated the figure as about 165, consisting of 144 deployed weapons plus an extra 15% as spares – Spares are usually needed within the supply chain, including the maintenance workshops.]
