The safety of nuclear convoys to Coulport on the Rosneath Peninsula will be debated in the Scottish Parliament next week.
Trident warheads are transported more than 440 miles by road to the naval base from Aldermaston in Berkshire.
Mark Ruskell, Green party MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife, has secured a members’ business debate at Holyrood on Wednesday about civil contingency plans surrounding the convoys.
His motion states that the convoys regularly pass close to communities in various parts of Scotland, stating ‘there is an inherent risk in transporting high explosives and radioactive material together on public roads’.
It adds: “Information on what to do in an emergency involving a nuclear reactor is regularly circulated to residents close to the Coulport and Faslane bases but no equivalent information relating to an incident involving nuclear weapons is available to communities along the regular convoy route.
“Although defence is a reserved matter, it would be for the civil authorities such as police, fire and rescue and local authorities to attempt to respond to any emergency as so-called category 1 responders.”
Community safety is covered by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 which obliges councils to risk-assess any perceived threat to public safety and to keep their public informed.
In 2016 Mr Ruskell launched a survey to check councils’ readiness to respond effectively to any serious incident involving the convoys.
Nukewatch, an organisation which monitors the issue, used the survey for its report ‘Unready Scotland’ which said councils had failed to fulfil their obligations under the Act.
A Nukewatch spokesperson said: “Concern about the public safety implications of the UK’s transport of nuclear warheads across Scotland is increasing significantly as more and more people become aware, mainly through social media, that the UK government is in the habit of moving warheads containing both plutonium and high explosive on public roads.
“Even the secretive Ministry of Defence acknowledges that the risks are serious.
“Oversight of the effectiveness of the civil authority response in the case of an incident rests squarely with the Scottish Government and an open review of that response is urgently required.”
Lived near Coulport and Faslane for 10 years and never had “information on what to do in an emergency ….”