Protesters demand an end to nuclear trains in Gloucester

This is in protest at the transport of water-filled flasks carrying highly-radioactive fuel rods from Hinkley nuclear power station to Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria for reprocessing, salve which pass through Gloucester weekly. As well as these highly radioactive flasks there are also flasks of intermediate level waste from 5 different nuclear power stations in the UK which go through Gloucester on their way to Berkeley for storage.

James Greenwood, prospective Forest of Dean parliamentary candidate for the Green party, said: “We are calling for this transport to stop, 1) because these flasks emit low-level radiation – and exposure to any increase in radiation levels means increased risk of cancers, particularly thyroid cancer in children; 2) In a serious accident the flasks would break open, releasing highly-radioactive material into the surrounding environment, causing deaths and requiring mass evacuation.  Can you imagine trying to evacuate Gloucester before the wind covered the city in radio-active poison?”

Barbara French, secretary of STAND added, “We are also calling for plans for building new nuclear power stations in the UK to be scrapped, since operating such stations would mean high-level nuclear waste continuing to be produced for many more decades into the future. This will either have to be stored in the area of the power station, threatening more cancers locally, or be transported by rail to Sellafield, with the dangers this would represent. This is just one of many reasons why STAND opposes the proposed huge new nuclear development at Oldbury.”

This protest in Gloucester is part of a coordinated protest against nuclear trains and nuclear power that is taking place up and down the country this weekend at stations used by trains carrying nuclear waste.

Further information about the plans for the new nuclear power station at Oldbury can be found on STAND’s website, www.standagainstoldbury.org.