[brianthegiant]

Originally Posted by tsr

Let's hope that if you aren't doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear from any guards.

I'm afraid the
'if you aren't doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear'
argument doesn't wash with me.
Far too many Police mistakes over the years, including a few fatal ones involving armed police.
Mark Duggan and Jean Charles de Menezes for example.

but I suspect thats why you added the 'Let hope' qualifier

[neilmc]

So would this site be prohibited from publishing timings of such trains, or sightings of them - after all they will be in transit for some consierable time!

[tsr]

Originally Posted by brianthegiant

...but I suspect thats why you added the 'Let hope' qualifier

It was, yes.

[HSTEd]

Originally Posted by neilmc

So would this site be prohibited from publishing timings of such trains, or sightings of them - after all they will be in transit for some consierable time!

Unless they will also be eliminated from websites such as Open Train Times it would be pointless, and working time tables are hardly highly restricted information.

Its also pointless since you could put someone on an overlook of the track leaving Dounreay several miles distant with a telescope (is it not in quite mountainous terrain) in a hunting hide, with instructions to alert comrades who were going to strike somewhere in Cumbria several hours before the train arrives.

[DownSouth]

Originally Posted by DaveNewcastle

"taking it by ship would reduce the chance of there being a rail crash". A rail crash? Where does that come into it?
Transporting waste by horse and cart or cancelling trains will reduce the chance of there being a rail crash! So what?

It came into it because I made a reasonable reply to the previous post which stated that taking it by rail instead of a ship was a good move because it meant there would be no nuclear material involved in a shipwreck.

And where does high explosives at sea come into it?

If an unauthorised vessel approaches the ship and continues to do so after warnings are made on GUARD channels, it's safe to assume they are pirates and you have the escort vessel/helicopter sink it in self-defence. Pirate problem solved.

Various naval forces around the world have a significant amount of experience with escorting nuclear materials, it's a routine mission.

[Hydro]

Originally Posted by DownSouth

Various naval forces around the world have a significant amount of experience with escorting nuclear materials, it's a routine mission.

It's routine for a UK police force too.

[HSTEd]

Originally Posted by DownSouth

It came into it because I made a reasonable reply to the previous post which stated that taking it by rail instead of a ship was a good move because it meant there would be no nuclear material involved in a shipwreck.

If an unauthorised vessel approaches the ship and continues to do so after warnings are made on GUARD channels, it's safe to assume they are pirates and you have the escort vessel/helicopter sink it in self-defence. Pirate problem solved.

Various naval forces around the world have a significant amount of experience with escorting nuclear materials, it's a routine mission.

You are going to have a Royal Navy warship open fire on a British registered ship in British territorial waters simply because they don't like the course its taking?

Approaching other ships is entirely acceptable and the RN has no right to demand otherwise.


Rail transport of nuclear materials is a routine mission for the railways and British police forces.
Additionally safety per tonne-kilometre is largely irrelevent unless you are suggesting we wait till we have a bulk carrier full of material. It would be safety per ship-kilometre that is important. Indeed BNFL sent a ship to Japan carrying only 3kg of nuclear material.

[tsr]

Originally Posted by HSTEd

You are going to have a Royal Navy warship open fire on a British registered ship in British territorial waters simply because they don't like the course its taking?

Approaching other ships is entirely acceptable and the RN has no right to demand otherwise.

You have to have a very good reason to be on a course that could result in you meeting another vessel. If you do not declare your intentions when approaching a vessel which is clearly under Navy guard you can expect some form of intervention. Depending on the discretion of the senior officers, this may or may not involve live fire.

The registration of the vessel does not necessarily matter and we have not had any particular reason to assume that the hypothetical ship you mention is British-registered anyway. As you full well know, a number of vessels of many different national registrations operate in our territorial waters.

[IslandDweller]

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary are routinely armed, and have been since I was a lad (which is many years ago). This is not news - though clearly some campaigners want to make it so.

[Bodie]

Hmmm, I did half suspect their might be some slightly different cargo on these trains there is the norm.

The crux of the matter here then appears to be - As this is a new kind of shipment then is carried at the moment on UK nuclear trains then there might be a need for armed guards. A very sensisble thing to do when a new shipment is to be moved by any means of transport. I hope they will come to the correct conclusion whatever that may turn out to be.

As for the campaigner's, no doubt if the powers that be just dismissed armed guards and said it will be treated as any other nuclear train, they'd spit feathers and thus the following would be on the BBC instead :-

'Campaigner's fears at unarmed nuclear trains'

Your damned if you do and damned it you don't

These campaigner's must take the Caroline Lucas view on the world

If you don't like it, feign stupidity

Anyone who watches Question Time will know what I speak of. Miss Lucas don't understand why we need nuclear anything.
She also along with that Germaine Green woman think it 'strange' that we have an overseas island so far far away. Thus we must let it go and sod all the people on it.

My distain for such people reaches new heights everyday

Bodie