THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) said nuclear materials are transported 'only when necessary' in response to campaigners accusing the government of not being transparent with convoys.
Convoys with lorries containing nuclear warheads often use motorways and roads in Lancashire and Cumbria, such as the M6, to go between the Burghfield nuclear weapons factory in Berkshire and the Royal Navy's armaments depot at Coulport on Loch Long in Argyll and Bute. The campaigners claim that the Navy does this at least six times a year.
The Cumbria and Lancashire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) said the government refused to respond to a Freedom of Information request and pointed to a debate in the House of Commons.
Neale Hanvey, an MP for the Scottish nationalist and pro-independence Alba Party, told the defence procurement minister James Cartlidge that a Freedom of Information request submitted by his party on transportation of nuclear material through Scotland had been 'rebuffed.'
Mr Cartlidge responded: "I profoundly disagree about this being the time to abandon the deterrent. I could not think of a worse time. The policy of the hon. Gentleman’s party is not just to abandon the deterrent but to withdraw from NATO. I could not think of a more reckless policy to undertake in the face of Russian aggression. We support the deterrent and we will continue to invest in it."
The local CND spokesperson Philip Gilligan said: "This is nothing short of a cover-up by the government. Surely, we have the right to know how often nuclear materials are being transported past our schools, our hospitals and our towns and cities. The government’s refusal to disclose even basic information suggests that they have something to hide."
An MoD spokesperson said: "Defence nuclear materials are transported only when necessary, and the safety and security of the public are the highest priority.
“All convoy operations follow strict and safe procedures, and the MOD is equipped to respond to any incident, no matter how unlikely."
The MoD said that in over 50 years of transporting nuclear material by road in the UK, there has never been an incident that posed a radiation hazard.
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