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Nuclear flask train times?

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Charlie2555

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Can anyone please tell me the dates and times on which the DRS nuclear flask trains run? The working I'd be most interested in would be the one which originates in Bridgwater and goes up near Bristol. I have never actually seen this train and would love to one day! Thanks for your help!
Charlie
 
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Temple Meads

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**Waits for know-it-all to mention security issues**

I'm afraid I don't know the timings myself, but I'd also be interested to know them!
 

scotsman

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No security issues - all up on Freightmaster! (The Hunterston and Torness ones are on scot-rail too!)
 

DarloRich

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Can anyone please tell me the dates and times on which the DRS nuclear flask trains run? The working I'd be most interested in would be the one which originates in Bridgwater and goes up near Bristol. I have never actually seen this train and would love to one day! Thanks for your help!
Charlie

they do not exist, they never have existed and they never will exist. You can expect a visit from someone shortly to discuss matters in detail. It will not be pleasant. I was never here. :lol:

Much as spotters and veg may hate to hear this there is a security risk in there being to much information on these type of workings in the public domain. They do, after all, carry material that is of interest to unpleasant people around the world.
 

sprinterguy

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Much as spotters and veg may hate to hear this there is a security risk in there being to much information on these type of workings in the public domain.
Must be why the details have been widely and openly circulated in Freightmaster, railways mags and the like for years... :roll:
 

Wath Yard

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So sensitive is the information that they are contained in the WTTs on Network Rail's website!
 

Freightmaster

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So sensitive is the information that they are contained in the WTTs on Network Rail's website!
Exactly - it's an urban myth that info on these trains is in some way restricted...

...if that were the case, they would run 'under the radar' like the Royal Train,
and I would have been arrested years ago!! :lol:


MARK
 

HSTEd

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Since the trains always originate at the same site and always head to the same site, and there are only a restricted number of routes available, anyone wanting to do something..... inappropriate? could simply have someone in a hide on a suitable hill with a pair of high power glasses, who could then alert his co-conspirators when a train left the originating facility.
 

SGS

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Since the trains always originate at the same site and always head to the same site, and there are only a restricted number of routes available, anyone wanting to do something..... inappropriate? could simply have someone in a hide on a suitable hill with a pair of high power glasses, who could then alert his co-conspirators when a train left the originating facility.

You've basically just described gen groups. I do inappropriate things with my camera when my co-conspirators mention the flasks are heading up the Durham coast. I fear one day the police will mistake my camera for a RPG.
 

shedman

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I believe that the only type of trains which timing are to be kept "under the radar" are the ones transporting fresh fuel, these are the ones which run with the support coach. The usual nuclear trains run with just loco and flasks are (for want of a better term) a lot less dangerous so will probably explain their timings being published.
 

danielnez1

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As far as I know, fresh uranium fuel does not require extreme security as the U235 enrichment level in the fuel is nowhere near enough to create a nuclear bomb (See this) Unused uranium fuel can be handled with relatively limited safety protocols due to its low level of radioactivity. Fresh uranium fuel can be handled by site staff without shielding Also, most fuel for the legacy Magnox stations (the only operating example being Wylfa) is in the form of natural (i.e. unenriched uranium), therefore is of little value to bomb makers.

However, Mixed Oxide Fules (MOX) is a different story due to the elevated levels of Plutonium in the fuel, that could be diverted to make plutonium based nuclear weapons, which therefore are transported with additional security protocols. MOX fules are not as common though.
 

shedman

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I don't know what the type of fuel it is but its whatever is used by the nuclear subs
 

danielnez1

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They could be powered by highly enriched uranium fuel, which could be converted into a nuclear bomb should it fall into the wrong hands.
 

ainsworth74

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They could be powered by highly enriched uranium fuel.

As far as I'm aware they are. In order to get very powerful reactors into the limited space offered by a submarine hull they have to have highly enriched fuel. At least that's my understanding as a civilian.
 

HSTEd

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As far as I'm aware they are. In order to get very powerful reactors into the limited space offered by a submarine hull they have to have highly enriched fuel. At least that's my understanding as a civilian.

Indeed in existing British SSNs and SSBNs this is true.

The french have apparently developed a core that can run on LEU (15% in this case, more than a normal reactor but low enough that it can be produced on a line built for civilian research reactors) and give sufficient life to get no refuelings required.

That is all very hush hush as to how they did this though, probably by accepting tradeoffs in the size of the core.
 
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