- Trains carrying nuclear waste capable of being used for
dirty bombs have been left unguarded for days.
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- The carriages, heading for the Sellafield reprocessing
plant in Cumbria, were unwatched as they stood in railway sidings.
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- Nuclear inspectors who uncovered the shocking lapse warned
it had severe "security implications".
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- Nuclear safety campaigners warned yesterday thousands
could have been killed had terrorists got their hands on the material in
the blunder at a London site.
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- The Green Party's Darren Johnson said: "There would
have been huge numbers of deaths and injuries.
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- "Large parts of London would have been uninhabitable
for hundreds of years."
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- The Government's Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS)
outlined the blunder at Willesden Green, North West London, in a report
to Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt. The document said: "Spot checks
disclosed that approved guarding arrangements were not being carried out
satisfactorily."
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- OCNS chief Michael Buckland-Smith said train operators
moving the waste from power stations in Kent and Essex accepted the "security
and public relations implications" of the scare.
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- British Nuclear Fuels has now been banned from keeping
nuclear waste trains at Willesden Green. Several staff have also been axed
and private guards meant to watch the trains are now being supervised.
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- Mr Buckland-Smith added: "The incident was regrettable.
The action taken had a salutary effect."
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- But Mr Johnson, who heads London's Green Party and who
has investigated nuclear trains, said thousands of lives had been at risk.
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- He said: "The flasks on these trains can be punctured
by an explosion. It would have had absolutely horrific consequences if
terrorists had attacked them.
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- "They were meant to have tightened things up after
September 11, so it's very disturbing these lapses are still going on."
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- Dr Shahrar Ali, who lives near the siding, added: "There's
huge concern that these trains could have been hijacked or attacked.
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- "We don't even know the full scale of the dangers
as the Government refuses to release details, citing security reasons."
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