Secret information inadvertently released by the Ministry of Defence reveals that the reactors powering the UK's nuclear submarine fleet are twice as likely to suffer a catastrophic accident as civil nuclear reactors and reactors on US Navy submarines.

An official Ministry of Defence report states that “current UK practice falls significantly short of benchmarked relevant good practice” in two areas of nuclear safety: 'loss of coolant accidents', which would result from cracking of the reactor's cooling circuit, and measures to enable the submarine to recover from a reactor accident deep underwater. Read the report for yourself here:

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Nuclear Information Service is calling for the Royal Navy's nuclear propulsion programme to be included within the scope of the Health and Safety Executive's review of the UK nuclear industry following the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The UK's nuclear submarines are powered by pressurised water reactors (PWR) but, according to an official report, the Navy's nuclear reactor programme “currently falls short of current relevant good practice.  

NIS has written to Mike Weightman, HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, to point out that the Navy's nuclear programme is probably an area of higher risk than the civil nuclear sector yet receives far less scrutiny of its operations, and asking for it to be included in the review to learn lessons from the Fukushima accident which the government has requested. ... more

In addition to equipment failures, the government has listed 14 collisions involving British nuclear submarines since 1988 and 237 fires on board the fleet of vessels.

BBC 3rd Apr 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7981569.stm

Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many submerged collisions involving British nuclear submarines there have been since 2000. ... more

In advance of a full Exercise of the Sotonsafe Plan on 14th January 2009, a short Exercise took place on 18/11/08 to identify properties in a section of Hythe, a village on the New Forest side of Southampton Water. The task was to test naval ratings'ability to find every home and business in readiness to be able to distribute PITS -- Potassium Iodate Tablets that prevent radiation take up of the thyroid gland. SCANS observed the exercise in order to see if such a distribution is feasible and if all residents and workers in the designated area would have been reached in the event of an accident exposing them to radiation. ... more

Nuclear Submarine issues raised in the
Ministry of Defence Annual Performance Report 2007/8

Operational 'pinch points'

Catagory A Nuclear Watchkeepers
Shortfall of 53 Watchkeepers out of 271 - a shortfall of 24%

Cat B Nuclear Watchkeepers
A shortfall of 77 Watchkeepers out of 417 a shortfall of 18%

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"...an extension of the Devonport Future Nuclear facilities Partnering Agreement to cover £147M additional work to support docking, de-fuel, de-equip and lay-up preparation of nuclear submarines"

"...A £1Bn, ten year Partnering Contract with Rolls Royce Propulsion Engineering to provide in service support of nuclear propulsion plant for Swiftsure, Trafalgar, Vanguard and Astute Class Submarines. The performance and cost incentivised contract forms the first part of a long term strategic partnering and business transformation project." ... more