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An air crash involving an RAF aircraft carrying US nuclear materials over South Wales may be the stuff of nightmares, but the Chair of the Welsh Nuclear Free Local Authorities has just written to the First Minister of Wales asking him to contemplate just that possibility.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Nukewatch have just published a disturbing briefing titled ‘Special nuclear flights between the UK and US: the dangers involved’. The briefing references the transport of nuclear materials made by RAF C-17 Globemaster flying between RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and airbases in the United States. Around ten such round-trips are made every year to transport nuclear materials utilised for the maintenance of Britain’s nuclear arsenal.
The report says of the route taken by these flights: ‘Aircraft fly from Brize Norton out into the Atlantic, overflying the Cotswolds and then the northern edges of Bristol and Cardiff to reach the Bristol Channel, flying south of Ireland to cross the Atlantic. A variation of this route takes the plane further to the north where it overflies Gloucestershire and the South Wales valleys, heading out to sea over Swansea and the Gower, and, again, South of Ireland.’
Although the C-17 Globemasters involved in these flights are four-engine aircraft, and are subject to an enhanced maintenance regime, so catastrophic mechanical failure is less likely, Welsh Forum Chair Councillor Sue Lent wants Welsh emergency planning authorities to properly consider the likely impact of any accident involving nuclear materials. Cllr Lent serves on Cardiff City Council, one of the municipalities flown over, and one of several South Wales local authorities who are members of the NFLAs.
The First Minister acts as Chair of the Wales Resilience Forum. The Forum ‘supports good communication and improves emergency planning across agencies and services’ acting as a coordinating body for local resilience forums across Wales. These ‘bring together all responder organisations that have a duty to co-operate under the Civil Contingencies Act. The groups also include other organisations who would respond to an emergency. Together, they ensure they prepare for emergencies by working in a coordinated and effective way.’[i]
The Minister of Defence hosts annual Astral Bend exercises ‘to practice and test the emergency response to an accident involving an RAF aircraft transporting special nuclear materials’, but investigative reporter Rob Edwards uncovered evidence that such an exercise held in February 2011 at the Caerwent military base in South Wales identified several failures in the actions of first responders which would have led to ‘“avoidable deaths” in a real-life situation’. The MoD has refused to release details of recent exercises held after 2012 in response to Freedom of Information requests; nonetheless the NFLA Secretary has just submitted one.
Councillor Lent asks First Minister Gething to ‘seek a reassurance from the MoD / RAF that such flights will be diverted out to sea, well away from our South Wales municipalities, and revisit emergency planning arrangements should an accident involving these special nuclear materials occur’ and suggests that as the last exercise conducted at Caerwent appears to be that held in 2011 a follow-up exercise to test the preparedness of Welsh emergency service agencies is ‘long overdue.’
Ends//… For more information please contact the NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Notes to Editors
The letter sent by Cllr Lent to the First Minister of Wales Vaughan Gething:
The First Minister of Wales / Prif Weinidog Cymru,
The Rt Hon Vaughan Gething MS
Welsh Government
Correspondence.Vaughan.Gething@gov.wales
30 April 2024
Emergency planning in relation to the special nuclear flights from the USA which transit Wales
Dear First Minister,
I am writing to you in your capacity as Chair of the Wales Resilience Forum, responsible for emergency planning across the nation.
I am the Chair of the Welsh Nuclear Free Local Authorities Forum.
Please may I bring your attention to a disturbing briefing recently issued by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Nukewatch titled ‘Special nuclear flights between the UK and US: the dangers involved’ ?[ii]
For your information, and that of your emergency planning team, I have taken the liberty to attach this briefing.
The briefing references the transport of nuclear materials made by RAF C-17 Globemaster flights between RAF Brize Norton and airbases in the United States. Around ten such round-trips are made every year to transport nuclear materials utilised for the maintenance of Britain’s nuclear arsenal.
On Page 2 in the penultimate paragraph the report references the route taken by these flights:
‘Aircraft fly from Brize Norton out into the Atlantic, overflying the Cotswolds and then the northern edges of Bristol and Cardiff to reach the Bristol Channel, flying south of Ireland to cross the Atlantic. A variation of this route takes the plane further to the north where it overflies Gloucestershire and the South Wales valleys, heading out to sea over Swansea and the Gower, and, again, South of Ireland.’
First Minister, I am a Councillor at Cardiff City Council. Cardiff is a member authority of the Welsh NFLAs. Amongst our other member authorities in South Wales are Bridgend, Caerphilly, and Torfaen. Clearly, we are concerned about the potential impact of any accident involving an aircraft carrying nuclear materials over, or near, any of our municipalities.
The report also references the annual ‘Astral Bend’ exercises carried by the Ministry of Defence ‘to practice and test the emergency response to an accident involving an RAF aircraft transporting special nuclear materials.’ In the final paragraph of Page 5 and first paragraph of Page 6 of the report the deficiencies of such an accident conducted in South Wales are identified:
‘During the Astral Bend 2011 exercise at the Caerwent military training area in South Wales, mistakes made by emergency services would have led to “avoidable deaths” in a real-life situation, according to exercise assessments. The fire service was heavily criticised by DNSR for refusing to allow ambulance teams to take away seriously injured people until they had been decontaminated. At a mock media briefing questions were “not well handled, in particular substantially understating the scale of the hazards.”’
The Guardian published an article from investigative reporter Rob Edwards on 9 February 2016 which carried more details of the failings of the exercise at the Caerwent base held on 24 February 2011 which ‘imagined [an] aircraft carrying nuclear weapons ingredients crashing and spreading plutonium and other radioactive contamination up to three miles (5km) away’:
‘”The interpretation of the absolute necessity to decontaminate every casualty or person from within the determined ‘hot zone’ did, and would in the event of such an incident, lead to avoidable deaths,” the report concluded.
The training of military commanders was “inadequate” because of cutbacks, and there was a “lengthy delay” before they liaised with emergency services, it said.’[iii]
The MoD took over two years to release details of the 2011 and 2012 exercises to Mr Edwards after his submission of a Freedom of Information Act request.
I have attached the assessment of the 2011 exercise, sourced from the website of the Nuclear Information Service, to this letter.
The department has since refused to issue details of subsequent Astral Bend exercises; one can speculate that this was to avoid the revelation of other embarrassing deficiencies.
First Minister, given these flights appear to continue to transit South Wales is it not now time to seek a reassurance from the MoD / RAF that such flights will be diverted out to sea, well away from our South Wales municipalities, and revisit emergency planning arrangements should an accident involving these special nuclear materials occur? And given that the last exercise conducted in South Wales appears to have been in 2011 is a follow-up exercise not long overdue?
Thank you for considering this letter. Your response would be most welcome. Please in the first instance send this by email to our NFLA Secretary Richard Outram at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Sue Lent,
Chair, Welsh Forum, UK/Ireland NFLA Steering Committee
[i] https://www.gov.wales/wales-resilience/what-we-do
[ii] https://cnduk.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Special-nuclear-flights-between-the-US-and-UK-1.pdf
[iii] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/09/mock-mod-nuclear-emergencies-exposed-life-threatening-errors
