TRAINS carrying deadly radioactive waste are trundling through Mid Cheshire every week sparking fears of a terrorist attack or accident.

Waste from nuclear power stations across the country is gathered together at Crewe and carried in metal flasks passing through Mid Cheshire to the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria.

But environmental campaigners Greenpeace has been criticised for printing timetables of 10 nuclear trains throughout the UK on the internet.

They show trains can leave any day of the week from Tuesday to Friday, leaving Crewe in the early morning and passing through Winsford, Hartford, Weaverham and Acton Bridge a few minutes later.

Greenpeace claimed a terrorist attack or accident could spread radiation over 100 kilometres and cause more than 8,000 deaths.

Greenpeace spokeswoman Sarah North said: 'Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK are unwittingly exposed to the dangers of nuclear waste every week.

'Trains carrying radioactive waste trundle through the UK's villages, towns and cities every week - and we think the public has a right to know. So we've published a timetable of nuclear transports in the UK.

'The timetable is frighteningly easy to work out - just ask any train spotter - and anyone could do it. So we're doing it first, to make sure the Government acts before terrorists do.'

Richard Shrubb from the Office for Civil Nuclear Security, said nuclear power stations could not operate without the movement of waste on the rail network.

He said: 'We have strict international guidelines concerning how the waste should be transported. The waste is inside casks which are 14 inches thick and built to withstand a crash, terrorist attack or sabotage.'

Direct Rail Services, which operates the nuclear trains, said the decision to publish the timetables was 'not sensible', claiming that the timetables were not wholly accurate either.

A spokesman told the Chronicle the service runs in conjunction with stringent safety and security regulations.

She added: 'DRS is aware of published information concerning the movements of its trains and measures are in place to minimise the security implications of this. It is not sensible to release specific information about what these measures are.

'Greenpeace has acknowledged in the publication of the timetable that days, times and routes may vary and, therefore, the information on the website is considered to be unreliable.'

Acton Bridge Cllr Steve Pardoe said: 'The timetable is not completely credible, the timings are clearly estimates and it says the train goes through Northwich, not Acton Bridge, which would be impossible. It may be indicative but I really have to wonder what is the purpose in publishing them.

'Greenpeace has done an exceptional job over the last few decades but sometimes I feel it gets a bit too carried away with doing what it can do, rather than what it ought to do.'

Chief Supt Martyn Ripley of the British Transport Police said: 'You have to question what their motives are in doing this. Move-ment of nuclear material by train is highly regulated by the Office for Civil Nuclear Security and very safe.

'The only real problems we encounter are with protesters and, although we are fully prepared to facilitate legitimate protest, we will not tolerate illegal protests.'

Concern over Greenpeace's nuclear waste timetables

COMMUNITY leaders have questioned Greenpeace's publication of the nuclear train timetables.

Acton Bridge Cllr Steve Pardoe said he and many others were aware of the trains. He said: 'We used to live right next to the line and would see them travelling very slowly through the village.

'As far as I am aware they have an exemplary safety record and it's not something that particularly concerns me. You just have to shrug your shoulders and get on with it because the nuclear legacy is such that this waste already exists and so has to be transported some way.

'What is Greenpeace hoping for? To get the nuclear waste off the railways? That is not going to happen and most people would much rather it be transported on the railways where it would be much safer and properly guarded.

'Its actions are only going to make the situation worse, and it is a little irresponsible.'

He added: 'I would be more concerned about the trains carrying gallons of aviation fuel that come through Acton Bridge at much higher speeds and without any security. They have the potential to be very dangerous.'

Hartford Cllr Keith Musgrave said he was aware trains transported nuclear waste - though not through Mid Cheshire - but said: 'I think publishing the timetables is a little dangerous.

'The more dangerous members of our society could get hold of the information and try to cause trouble, so I would say it is a bit irresponsible.'