'Terror risk' over nuclear cargo

The newspaper said the train set off from Dungeness Power Station

A newspaper reporter walked up to an unattended train carrying nuclear waste and planted a fake bomb on it, the Daily Mirror has said.

Reporter Tom Parry said he placed the fake device on the train, travelling from Kent to Cumbria, at a north-west London depot in a built-up area.

The paper said many trains carry waste between nuclear power stations each week and could be a terror target.

Train operator Direct Rail Services (DRS) said it was investigating.

A statement issued on Friday said: "Discussions with the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) have taken place over the event that happened on 19 July at Brent Yard depot.

"Direct Rail Services Limited and the OCNS are aware of the circumstances outlined and clearly there are matters that require full investigation before any conclusions can be drawn."

Friday's edition of the Daily Mirror claimed: "A terrorist could have blown up the waste - sparking a vast toxic cloud that would have killed hundreds."

This was not a one-off... it was the tenth time I had wandered freely into the depot Tom Parry

Mr Parry said he placed a device that could have been a bomb on the train's 12-ton cargo as it sat in sidings at the depot.

He said he carried out the act in daylight, while the wagons were left unsupervised for nearly 10 minutes.

The train, which looked like "an ordinary freight train", had left Dungeness three hours earlier, passing slowly through Ashford, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and south London.

It would have continued through Milton Keynes, Rugby, Crewe and Warrington, before arriving at Sellafield.

The newspaper claimed the train was carrying radioactive flasks of spent uranium fuel rods.

'Stringent security'

It said the depot was "a short walk" from a sports stadium, a large hospital, one of London's major roads, and was surrounded by housing estates.

Mr Parry said his only identification as a legitimate rail worker was a fluorescent orange jacket and hard hat, which could be bought at any builders' merchants.

He said: "This was not a one-off. It was the 10th time I had wandered freely into the depot."

DRS issued a further statement which said nuclear fuel had been transported by rail since 1962 without any incidents of radioactive material being released, and that the nuclear industry continued to use rail as the primary mode of transport.

The statement said there were "extremely stringent safety, security and driver performance standards" and systems were audited and approved by Her Majesty's Rail Inspectorate (HMRI) and the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS).

All movements of nuclear material were conducted in accordance with the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003, the statement added.