from Sunday Herald, 24 October 2010
Fears are growing for the future of a nuclear emergency coordination centre in Scotland that helps deal with the aftermath of submarine accidents like that off the Isle of Skye on Friday.
Staff at the Clyde Off-Site Centre near Rhu on Gareloch, a few miles south of the Faslane naval base, have been told that it is facing closure. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) accepted the centre was under review, but insisted no final decisions had been taken.
Critics claimed that the closure of the centre to save money could lead to gaps in the emergency precautions meant to protect Scotland from radiation leaks - though this was denied by the MoD.
The centre is a large building housing a 24/7 emergency monitoring team, which is dispatched to nuclear accidents in Scotland to check for contamination. The building also acts as an off-site control centre for nuclear emergencies at Faslane.
The MoD said yesterday that some of the centre’s 15-strong team were put on alert on Friday after the nuclear-powered submarine, HMS Astute, ran aground on the seabed near Skye. This was standard operating procedure, according to an MoD spokesman, but they were then stood down when it became clear no radioactivity was leaking.
After ten hours, the submarine was dragged off the seabed at high tide and was yesterday moored in deep water a couple of miles off the west coast. Divers were inspecting its hull and rudder for damage, before it returns to Faslane.
The MoD has launched an inquiry into the incident which will aim to discover how a brand new state-of-the-art £1 billion stealth submarine managed to end up as a stranded tourist attraction. The captain, Commander Andy Coles, could face a court-martial.
Despite their important role in responding to accidents, members of the emergency monitoring team at Rhu are expecting to be made redundant, or to be redeployed. This is part of a reorganisation of emergency procedures being conducted by the MoD.
According to the MoD, Faslane had adopted “new arrangements” for dealing with the “highly unlikely” event of a nuclear accident. These had been successfully demonstrated in an emergency exercise last month.
“As a result of the successful change to procedures, the Clyde naval base began working on trying to identify any gains to be made,” said an MoD spokesman.
“The work is still ongoing and many different areas are being looked at and many different options considered. However, no decisions have been made and it would not be correct to speculate on the outcomes of the review.”
The spokesman added: “The Clyde Off-Site Centre continues to operate normally throughout the duration of the review. The base never compromises on the safety of the men and women who work there or on the public at large.
But John Ainslie, the coordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, warned that closing the centre could undermine safety. “If there had been a nuclear accident as a result of Astute running aground, then the centre would have played a part in coordinating the response,” he said.
“The MoD probably wants to move the facilities from Rhu to inside Faslane. But this won’t work if there is an accident at Faslane that results in the evacuation of the base.”
He pointed out that the function of the off-site centre is to coordinate the response of the MoD, local authorities and emergency services to a nuclear accident. “Closing it will undermine the current safety scheme for the Clyde base,” he claimed
Argyll and Bute Council, however, was not aware of any suggestion that the Clyde Off-Site Centre was going to close. “The council has had reassurances that it will stay open for the foreseeable future,” said a council spokeswoman.
The site at Rhu was originally a base for seaplanes in the Second World War. After the war it is believed to have been used by the army to service the military base on St Kilda, and then as a reception centre for visitors to Faslane.
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