from The Guardian, 18 May 2009
Radioactive waste has leaked from Britain's nuclear submarines nine times in the past 12 years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted. Two of the leaks – including one at Devonport near Plymouth two months ago – had not been revealed until today.
Confirmation of the leaks raises new questions about the MoD's safety record, which has been coming under increasing scrutiny since HMS Vanguard, a British submarine armed with Trident nuclear missiles, collided with a nuclear-armed French submarine, Le Triomphant, under the Atlantic in February.
Last month, the Guardian reported a series of safety breaches at the Royal Navy's nuclear submarine base at Faslane near Glasgow. Documents released to Channel Four News under freedom of information legislation disclosed three leaks of radioactivity from nuclear submarines into the Firth of Clyde in 2004, 2007 and 2008.
A further four leaks have been previously reported: two at Devonport in 2005 and 2008 and two at sea in 1997 and 2000. Now the MoD has told the Guardian about another two inadvertent releases of radioactivity, both of which were hitherto unknown.
On 25 March this year radioactive water escaped from HMS Turbulent while the reactor's discharge system was being flushed at the Devonport naval dockyard. “A small quantity of water leaked onto the submarine casing,” said an MoD spokeswoman. “The leak was contained to the casing.”
The second leak not reported was of radioactive coolant from HMS Trafalgar while at sea on 30 January 2006. “There was no radiation leak into the environment and no crew member was exposed to a radiation hazard,” said the MoD, without explaining further.
But the MoD's critics are not reassured. “The discovery of so many leaks in so many places over recent years suggests that there is a real problem with the safety culture across the whole nuclear navy,” said John Ainslie, the co-ordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
He pointed out that the navy had been repeatedly warned about their poor radioactive waste management practices by the Environment Agency in England and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) in Scotland. “But radioactivity just seems to keep on escaping,” he said. “It is scandalous that the MoD seems to have such a callous disregard for the environment.”
Confirmation of the nine leaks from nuclear submarines since 1997 came in a parliamentary written answer to Conservative MP Dr Julian Lewis on 14 May (see table below). Lewis asked his question in the wake of last month's revelations about repeated leaks at Faslane.
The MoD's record was so serious that Sepa warned that it would have considered shutting down operations at the base, if it had had the legal power to do so.
Instead, frustrated by its lack of statutory enforcement powers, Sepa sent the MoD a series of “final warning” letters. The third leak into the Gareloch on the Clyde in four years was “of utmost concern as it demonstrates a number of inadequacies in radioactive waste management practices”, Sepa said. The MoD had breached an agreement it made in 1993 to minimise pollution at Faslane, Sepa alleged.
In a confidential report, the MoD admitted that safety failings at Faslane were a “recurring theme” and ingrained in the base's culture. The ministry said: "An improvement plan is currently underway to ensure modern standards and best practice at the base.”
LEAKS OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE FROM NUCLEAR SUBMARINES
November 1997: HMS Turbulent in North Atlantic
May 2000: HMS Tireless in the Mediterranean
2004: HMS Trafalgar at Faslane
November 2005: HMS Victorious at Devonport
January 2006: HMS Trafalgar at sea
August 2007: HMS Superb at Faslane
February 2008: HMS Torbay at Faslane
November 2008: HMS Trafalgar into the sea at Devonport
March 2009: HMS Turbulent at Devonport
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