This morning on the A14 westbound, about 8am - passed 2 flatbeds around Newmarket, about 2 miles apart, with an odd looking arrangement of metal-framed drums strapped heavily to the trailer. A bit like lots of minataure ISO tank containers. As I drew closer, I saw that they had a hazchem plate on the trailer - corrosive, radioactive, you name it!!!
I don’t know what was in them, but it makes you think…number one if there was an accident, you really wouldn’t want to run into the back of them.
But secondly, and far more sinister, surely they can’t have contained anything that nasty (?) - I’ve seen loads of a similar nature led by a Police ■■■■■■ in the past, which means that it was obviously nasty stuff. But with all the stuff this week about the ‘threat’ we now face for the next generation (ie. Tony’s legacy), it makes you wonder how hard it would be to get hold of stuff like that, if it’s being trucked around the country in this way…
Stuff that’s classed as radioactive (and required to be marked as such) may or may not be suitable for use by terrorists etc in some sort of “dirty bomb”. Liquids are not likely to be much use. Making an atomic bomb requires weapons grade plutonium or similar - and that sort of stuff (a) isn’t gaily carted around the country and (b) generally comes with a heavily armed military police ■■■■■■ at the very least.
Then there was the idiot who drove one across the 62 with no cap on it and if anyone had come in to contact with it they would have been killed but luckily the radiation escape was pointing downwards.
A Simple visit to Utube shows youngsters experimenting with different chemicals obtained in everyday shops such as Asda.
Amonia liquid + Alcohol mixed together in a coke bottle and shook causes one hell of an explosion, I wonder if the pratt lost an arm?
Diet Pepsi + 6 Minto sweets again in a cola bottle causes mayhem, but the most amazing one is the Dr Peppers 2ltr bottle put on a fire, the flames that shoot away from that makes you wonder what the heck your drinking.
So a little thought by Terrorists aint going to bother them with wasting time trying to get hold of plutonium.
Obviously I’ve quoted near harmless products, but with the vast amount of products out there anything is possible.
The internet is one great invention, but it’s one dangerous thing as well
As an after thought as well, how much consideration is actually given to the likes of the Asda and Tesco loads currently being carried around the country, if the extreme accident occured and normally harmless products such as liquids mixed and became potentionally lethal when mixed
isnt this bowkers running to harwich(?) with them?
i have seen quite a few foreign trucks in my time at harwich with radioactive boards up, i woke up one morning and one had parked next to me overnight down there, i have had no ill affects…
euromat:
isnt this bowkers running to harwich(?) with them?
i have seen quite a few foreign trucks in my time at harwich with radioactive boards up, i woke up one morning and one had parked next to me overnight down there, i have had no ill affects…
Coffeeholic:
Long before the internet you could get instructions for using a variety of things to create explosions just by visiting the local library.
There are two companies contracted by BNFL to run over to Europe:
WH Bowker - Bamber Bridge
R Barker - Burscough Industrial Estate
Ainsworth & Martin also move BNFL trailers within the UK
None of the above keep anything other than unladen trailers on their own premises. BNFL flasks (laden or otherwise) are not kept anywhere other than on BNFL sites.
allikat:
Those radioactive containers were once tested by ramming a 60mph coal train into one… nothing broke there…
we were shown a video of one being tested when i did my ADR training. they dropped it from 100 feet up. they are built to stay in one piece in the event of an accident
Its W.Bowkers,there were 2 on the Isle of Grain on Wednesday night.
When Bowker’s used to run with it on the Felixstowe-Europoort ferry they used to say the BNFL contract was a cracking job.Medicals every 6 months,as much safety gear you wanted,nothing was ever too much for them.
They used to take it to a nuclear power station just inside Western Germany,escorted there and then back empty.
He seamed quite happy with his lot,i’ve got no qualms about nuclear power or parking next to them.In fact i read there’s a higher concentraion of radiation being emitted from the ground naturally in Cornwall.
