Saturday 3 March 2001

Sellafield nuclear fuel train derailed By Auslan Cramb

A FREIGHT train carrying empty spent nuclear fuel flasks was derailed yesterday as it arrived at a nuclear power station. The incident, in which one wagon jumped the tracks but remained upright, led to the temporary closure of the east coast main line east of Edinburgh. No one was hurt and police said there were no safety implications, although a large number of emergency service vehicles were at the scene near the Torness power station outside Dunbar, East Lothian.

The train was reversing at 5mph on a siding when the derailment, which was blamed on frozen points, happened. None of the three 50-ton flasks on board was damaged. The trains regularly carry spent nuclear fuel from the plant to the Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria.

Janine Claber, of the freight company Direct Rail Services, a subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuel, said: "It was a very minor derailment which happened at low speed and not on the main line.

"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000122257519214&rtmo=VkkjVwlx&atmo=YYYYYYbp&pg=/et/01/3/3/ntrain03.html

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), March 03, 2001