Nuclear weapons crime in the UK has been reported to Thames Valley Police.
Reporter: Jane Meredith Reporter
Email: [email protected]
ANTI-NUCLEAR protesters picketed West Berkshire Council’s (WBC) offices yesterday (Wednesday), waving protest placards to highlight concerns about nuclear emergency planning arrangements at AWE Aldermaston.
The protest, by members of the Nuclear Awareness Group (NAG), was timed to co-incide with a mock emergency exercise in relation to (AWE) Aldermaston, situated on the outskirts of the large town of Tadley and also close to Aldermaston village. AWE manufactures and maintains the warheads for Britain’s nuclear deterrent, Trident.
WBC staff, along with Thames Valley Police (TVP) and other emergency agencies, central government departments, and AWE personnel, were taking part in Exercise Aldex 13 – a low-key drill of the AWE Aldermaston off-site emergency plan, carried out every three years.
Armed with placards bearing slogans such as: ‘Pretend police’ and ‘Fake firefighters’, in a statement issued yesterday (Thurs), NAG members said it was a: “Pretence happening every three years and a: “Desk-top exercise like having a fire drill without having to move from your desk” and continued:
“There has never been a live, realistic exercise here, the physical reality of a major emergency at Aldermaston has never been addressed.”
In response to the protest, AWE issued a statement this week pointing out both AWE sites, at Aldermaston and Burghfield, were licensed under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and as such, were required by law to carry out the drill every three years:
“The exercising of off-site arrangements must involve, where reasonably practicable, all of the agencies that would be involved in the response to a real incident and should focus on the strategic response to the incident led by the relevant police authority (in the case of AWE, Thames Valley Police),” said Catherine Lynagh, a spokeswoman for AWE.
The statement concluded that AWE recognised the democratic right of individuals to participate in lawful and peaceful protest activities.
