Lib Dem challenges Penrose on Worle nuclear trains threat

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 29th Jul 2006

Local Liberal Democrats have condemned the threat to local security posed by controversial nuclear waste trains travelling through North Somerset - and challenged Conservative MP John Penrose to do the same following shocking revelations of lax security surrounding these dangerous transports.

On Wednesday, 19 July, a Daily Mirror reporter boarded a nuclear train at Brent Yard depot, Cricklewood, London carrying a fake bomb. On Friday, 21 July, Greenpeace published a timetable of the nuclear train routes, to make sure the government acts before terrorists do.

The timetable includes regular trips through North Somerset including Worle and Yatton stations - as waste is transported from Hinkley Point to Crewe.

The Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Weston-super-Mare, Councillor Mike Bell said: "It is a real concern that nuclear waste is regularly being transported through Worle and Yatton stations.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency has recognised that the transport of nuclear material is the nuclear operation most vulnerable to terrorist attack or sabotage.

"While I appreciate the good record the train companies have had in transporting this waste so far, if there were to be an accident or terrorist attack on one of these trains in a place like Worle, the consequences would be devastating.

"The Government needs to be up front about the transportation of nuclear waste and step up measures to keep nuclear trains away from densely populated areas."

As Tony Blair & Gordon Brown both support new nuclear power stations, pressure is also mounting on local MPs to say where they stand on the nuclear issue.

Mike Bell has written to Conservative MP inviting him to support the Liberal Democrat calls to say no to new nuclear power stations.

Mike added: "The threat from current nuclear waste is bad enough, but a new generation of nuclear power stations will be massively expensive and will extend the blight of nuclear waste for generations to come.

"Nuclear power is the wrong choice for our energy future. I hope John Penrose will stand up to Tony Blair & Gordon Brown on this issue."