Select Committee on Defence Written Evidence

Memorandum from the Nuclear Information Service

CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS FAILURE

—    The secrecy surrounding Trident threatens democracy. The UK public cannot make informed decisions when they do not have the facts.—    Unlawful detention of protesters when convoys go by.—    Unlawful arrests of protesters.—    Excessive use of force by police to hold protesters.—    Denial of the right to freedom of assembly and association to prevent demonstrations against convoys and around bases.—    Denial of the right to freedom of expression when convoys go by.—    Denial of freedom of movement when convoys go by.—    Citizens opposed to Trident are subject to surveillance.—    Trident convoys on highly congested roads expose other road users to nuclear risk.—    In the event of an accident, citizens will be under virtual martial law.II  DELIVERY SYSTEM FAILURE—    Trident submarines in port are a constant terrorist target.—    The deployment of Trident at sea belongs to a previous cold war age.—    Recruitment of submariners has become more difficult: the risks are now greater, more understood & nuclear credibility is more questionable.III  DIPLOMATIC FAILURE—    The threat posed by Trident, and the strain placed on it as an overwhelming weapon, denies Britain the opportunity for real dialogue & co-operation between states.—    Britain can never be trusted to negotiate in good faith because it is non-compliant with the non-proliferation treaty (NPT).—    Misreading of another states' intentions cannot be corrected after Trident is used.—    A diplomatic solution to conflict will not be possible after the use of Trident.—    Trident discredits Britain's international standing by claiming diplomatic superiority from an unusable weapon.—    Trident supports the view that such military might brings security.IV  DISARMAMENT FAILURE—    Trident prevents Britain complying with its non-proliferation treaty obligations.

—    No state contemplating a nuclear weapons programme will take notice of the NPT since the five nuclear weapons states remain in breach of the treaty.

V  DOMESTIC SECURITY FAILURE

—    Trident is a prime target.—    Security against terrorist attack at any point in the nuclear cycle has become a critical risk.—    Theft of nuclear materials is a constant risk.—    The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston and Burghfield nuclear weapons sites are not secure.—    Trident undermines the objective of maintaining security by public consent and co-operation.VI  ECONOMIC FAILURE—    The high cost of Trident has led to deep financial cuts to conventional forces for security and peace keeping.—    Defence spending on Trident is disproportionate to the security provided.—    Trident creates financial costs in environmental and security terms.—    Trident adds to long-term public health care costs.—    In the event of a nuclear accident, the country may never recover financially.VII  ENVIRONMENTAL FAILURE—    Devastating long-term environmental damage has been done by nuclear fuel reprocessing to produce weapons grade plutonium for Trident.—    Background radiation is continually raised by the servicing of Trident warheads, adding to existing radioactive fall-out from nuclear weapons' use, testing, production, deployment and decommissioning.—    Contaminated sites at AWE Aldermaston and Burghfield, UKAEA Sellafield and others must be monitored and secured for ever.—    The servicing and operation of Trident continues to add unnecessarily to the legacy of nuclear waste & contamination.—    No solution has been found to the safe storage of Trident nuclear waste: warheads, reactors, and production plant.—    In the event of a nuclear accident, the environment might never recover.—    Trident is allowed to trump long-term environmental dangers.VIII  INDEPENDENT STATUS FAILURE—    Britain's reliance on the United States for missiles and satellite targeting for Trident confuses the notion of an independent weapon.—    Trident is an American weapon with dual control.IX  INTERNATIONAL SECURITY FAILURE—    Trident does nothing to enhance Britain's security.—    Trident poses the deepest and widest security and safety risk to the people of Britain and the world.—    As a security system for the 20th Century, trident no longer addresses 21st Century risks.—    Although Trident is no longer believed to provide "ultimate security", its existence forecloses on any other view of what security actually entails.—    Trident is not a solution to state or non-state, local or global threats.—    Reliance on all consuming fire-power precludes any other concept of security or any other means of achieving it through cooperation.—    Trident is Britain's ultimate problem.—    Any use of Trident could be the beginning of the end of life on Earth.—    Nuclear weapons have failed to protect the peoples of the Earth: east, west, south and north.X  LEGAL FAILURE—    Trident breaches international humanitarian and environmental law.—    Trident is a weapon of genocide, violating international, treaty and domestic law: the Geneva convention, the genocide convention and the genocide act.—    The threat or use of Trident cannot ever be justified.—    The criminality of Trident subverts the rule of law, nationally and internationally.XI  MILITARY FAILURE—    Trident can never be used.—    If Britain launched Trident, a reciprocal attack would annihilate the people claimed to be protected.—    Escalation could lead to a global nuclear winter.—    Trident has a lead role in the arms race.—    No military commander wants nuclear weapons, it is a few politicians that do.XII  PRODUCTION FAILURE—    The AWE Trident sites are a constant target.—    The AWE Trident sites pose a constant risk of nuclear accident.—    Further production is not necessary to meet existing policy commitments, yet AWE is set to develop facilities for future research & nuclear testing.—    Producers of Trident breach international law: icj 1996 & by reflection, domestic customary human right law.—    Producers of Trident breach NPT treaty law between governments.—    Producers of Trident subvert the rule of law.XIII  SAFETY FAILURE—    Nuclear transport is the weak link in the chain of safety and security risks.—    Serious and fatal accidents to the public have occurred on the roads.—    Ministry of Defence police have been killed and injured escorting Trident convoys.—    Accidents at AWE have caused contamination of workers and prosecution of the operator.—    The constant risk of contamination, criticality and fatal accidents due to human error, mechanical or computer failure at AWE is unacceptable.—    AWE report raised levels of kidney and stomach cancers in their workforce.—    No data is available for the cause of death of AWE retired workers. Many local people consider cancers are work-related.—    Neighbouring communities to nuclear sites and convoy routes suffer the constant risk of a nuclear accident.—    AWE sites create an accumulation of radioactive contamination in ground water, water courses and soil.—    Local authorities are obliged to be prepared for nuclear accidents on military sites and during transport of weapons.—    Submarine accidents in training, exercise and operation have occurred.XIV  TRANSPORTATION FAILURE—    Highways and motorways are not designed, built and operated to protect nuclear weapons.—    Weapons cannot be transported in secret in a democracy.—    Weapons out on the domestic highways are in a totally unfamiliar environment and are therefore vulnerable.—    Trident convoys are beyond the control of fixed-site operators.—    Warhead carriers are not radiation-free.—    Nuclear transport is the weakest link in the chain of security and safety risks.THE FAILURE OF TRIDENT

Conclusion


  In order for Britain to build a humane, legal, sustainable, reliable security structure it must:

 I  Renounce the threat and use of Trident.

 II  Remove nuclear warheads from submarines.

III  Return Trident missiles to the United States of America.

 IV  Systematically decommission warheads and submarines.

 V  Decommission production plant at AWE Aldermaston.

 VI  Close AWE Burghfield assembly plant.

VII  Commission further research on decommissioning, safe storage and verification at AWE Aldermaston.

Britain can then take the lead in disarmament: morally, diplomatically, legally and economically.

As with its abolition of the slave trade, Britain should abandon worn-out rhetoric and establish a real ethical foreign policy. Peace and security is based on co-operation, respect for others, justice and law.

To remove this heavy nuclear burden will take courage. To share the responsibility for humanity cannot include the irresponsible option to press the nuclear button.

To keep nuclear weapons until they are used is weakness and self-destructive.

To keep nuclear weapons now is to confuse security with power.

To keep nuclear weapons now will continue to create and sustain the arms race.

To be a power for good is within our control.

To use power to launch genocide beyond our control is not only evil but beyond intellectual reason.

28 February 2006

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Prepared 30 June 2006