Declassified UK: The UK military regularly flies planes carrying highly radioactive material to the US

Posted: 27th March 2024

Little-known to the public, the UK military regularly flies planes carrying highly radioactive material to the US in order to maintain its nuclear weapons system, Trident.

An exercise in 2010 rehearsed the response to an accident involving a US Air Force plane which had crashed and caught fire, damaging nuclear weapons on board and spreading radioactive contamination around the crash site.

Assessors concluded that, had there been a real emergency, civilian personnel would have been at risk from explosions and radioactive contamination.

Experience suggests that emergency arrangements would be totally inadequate to protect members of the public.

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