from Sunday Herald, 08 July 2012
Thirty fires have broken out on Britain’s nuclear submarines over the last three years, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted.
That’s an average of one every 40 days, and brings the total number of fires since 1987 to 266 – more than 10 a year. And the MoD has revealed for the first time that 74 of the fires erupted on submarines usually armed with nuclear warheads.
The disclosures have prompted accusations that Britain’s nuclear weapons can no longer be regarded as a “credible deterrent”. Fires could too easily knock out the submarines needed to keep patrolling, according to the SNP’s Westminster leader and defence spokesman, Angus Robertson MP.
“Any one of these fires could have had catastrophic consequences and the frequency of these incidents raises the most serious safety concerns ,” he told the Sunday Herald.
“We are not talking about a one-off incident, but a whole diary of near-disasters. That so many of these incidents occurred on submarines that may have been nuclear-armed is deeply troubling.”
One of the fires categorised by the MoD as major took place on a submarine capable of carrying nuclear weapons while it was docked at an unnamed naval base. Assuming this occurred in the UK, it was most likely to have been at Faslane on the Clyde or at Devonport in Plymouth on the south coast of England.
Robertson demanded to know when and where this fire took place. “The apparent vulnerability to fire events on these vessels raises grave questions for UK ministers,” he argued.
“Beyond the obvious risk to the crew, citizens on shore, and the environment a significant fire could severely limit the UK’s ability to maintain a continuous at-sea deterrent. It makes a mockery of any UK claims to having a credible ‘independent’ nuclear deterrent.”
The MoD currently operates four nuclear-powered Vanguard-class submarines capable of being armed with nuclear-tipped Trident missiles. One is usually undergoing maintenance, while the other three are all needed to make sure that one can always be on patrol at sea.
In May a US nuclear-powered submarine was disabled by a fire that started in a vacuum cleaner and burnt for 12 hours. An estimated £260 million of damage was caused to the USS Miami while it was docked at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery in Maine.
John Ainslie, coordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, pointed out that there had also been a serious fire on the nuclear-armed Russian submarine, Yekaterinburg, in December 2011. “There is a real danger that any one of the recent, though less serious, fires on British submarines could have raged out of control and created a radiation hazard to the west coast of Scotland,” he said.
The latest figures for UK submarine fires came in a parliamentary answer to Robertson last week from the UK defence minister, Peter Luff. Of the 266 fires since 1987, 243 were classed as “small” like “a minor electrical fault creating smoke”.
Twenty were rated as “medium” fires “such as a failure of mechanical equipment creating smoke and flame, requiring use of significant onboard resources”. There were three major fires that took place “while the submarines involved were in naval bases, requiring both ship and external resources”.
According to Luff, 74 of the fires were on submarines capable of carrying nuclear-armed missiles, though he declined to say whether they were actually armed when the fires broke out. Of those, 67 were classed as small, six as medium and one as major (see table below).
A parliamentary answer to Robertson three years ago said that there had been 236 fires on nuclear submarines between January 1987 and April 2009. That means that 30 fires have taken place since April 2009.
The MoD pointed out that the Royal Navy had successfully maintained a continuous nuclear deterrent for over 40 years. It is understood that of the 20 fires classed as medium, only five took place at sea.
“No fire on board any Royal Navy submarine has ever had an impact on nuclear safety or the ability to operate a continuous at-sea deterrent,” said an MoD spokesman.
“Meticulous records are kept of all incidents involving fire, however small. Most of those recorded were minor electrical faults that were dealt with quickly, safely and effectively. The Royal Navy operates a stringent safety regime on board all its submarines and all personnel receive regular and extensive fire safety training.”
Fires on nuclear submarines January 1987-July 2012
type of fire / on submarines usually armed with nuclear warheads/ on nuclear-powered submarines
Small / 67 / 243
Medium / 6 / 20
Major / 1 / 3
Totals / 74 / 266
source: Ministry of Defence
This story was followed up by the BBC, the Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman, the Huffington Post and For Argyll.
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