NIS Nuclear Information Service | submarines

Ministry of Defence submarine dismantling consultation begins

Photo credit: Ministry of Defence

A sixteen week public consultation by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on options for dismantling submarines that have left service with the Royal Navy starts today (28 October 2011).

Full details of how to participate in the consultation process and consultation documents are available on the MoD's Submarine Dismantling Project web site. The consultation closes on 17 February 2012.

Trident Initial Gate - here at last!

Defence Secretary Liam Fox has announced that approval has been given to go ahead with the detailed design phase of development of new submarines planned to replace the current Vanguard class vessels which carry the UK's Trident nuclear weapons.

NIS reveals the submarine safety risks that the Ministry of Defence didn't want you to know

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:

Nuclear submarine programme should be considered in Fukushima review, says NIS

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.

Submarine Dismantling Project: MoD releases SEA scoping report and site screening criteria

In January 2011 the Ministry of Defence released key documents on strategic environmental assessment and site selection criteria as the next stage in its Submarine Dismantling Project. Read more here.

Southampton nuclear submarine visit puts public safety in jeopardy

An imminent visit by nuclear powered submarine HMS Torbay to Southampton Docks has been condemned by an international expert in submarine safety for placing public safety at risk.

HMS Torbay, one of the Royal Navy's oldest serving nuclear powered submarines, will visit Southampton Docks from Saturday 13 November until Tuesday 16 November on a public relations trip hosted by Southampton City Council.

But Consulting Engineer John Large, who recently completed an in-depth review of classified Ministry of Defence (MoD) documents relating to nuclear submarine safety at Southampton on behalf of local environmental Group Solent Coalition Against Nuclear Ships (SCANS), has identified a secret MoD safety assessment which states that risks posed by older 'Trafalgar' class submarines such as HMS Torbay could result in an emergency on a far greater scale than the Royal Navy has planned for.

Southampton nuclear submarine visit puts public safety in jeopardy