INFORMATION about potentially lethal nuclear waste being ferried near Worcester and the surrounding countryside will soon be kept secret from residents under strict new laws.

The Government's new anti-terrorist legislation, which is due to come into force in a matter of weeks, will gag newspapers and other bodies from releasing information about the transportation of waste in the area.

It is feared the trains could become targets for terrorists to cause a tragedy like the World Trade Centre disaster in New York.

But environmental groups, which claim residents are at risk from the radiation leaking from the trains, have vowed to keep the people of Worcestershire up-to-date on what is being transported on their own doorsteps.

"There is a risk to people who live near the train lines, as an amount of radiation leaks out of the cells used to hold the waste," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Bridget Woodman.

"The amount is smaller than an X-ray, but the point is that you have a choice about having an X-ray, and you'll benefit from it."

The waste, often plutonium and used uranium, has been ferried by train through the area since the 1960s.

It is transported from the Oldbury and Hinkley Point nuclear power stations near Bristol to the controversial Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria.

The two lines which run through Worcestershire mean it either goes through the centres of Worcester and Droitwich, or near Tibberton and Spetchley.

Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff said he had been aware of the transport of nuclear waste for some time, but did not believe it was a cause for concern.

He said he thought the waste was transported on train lines running close to his own garden.

"I understand people have reservations about the movement of nuclear waste, but I don't believe people are right to be frightened," he said.

A Railtrack spokesman said the company was unable to comment on the movement of nuclear waste.