Press Releases & Updates 2002

DML Management Ltd. say that part of a structure designed to lift the radioactive fuel plates from the ship’s reactor struck the casing of the submarine. They also claim that the incident caused "no risk to safety".

Trident Ploughshares comment:

"The first thing to note is that both the MOD and DML operate the iceberg principle in regard to breaches of safety. In other words when the first press release is issued nine tenths of the story will still be hidden from public view. It is therefore likely that there is much more to emerge. The claim that there was no risk to safety is absurd, given that very heavy machinery was obviously for some time out of the handlers’ control. If the casing had been removed to allow access to the reactor then it is possible that the machinery could have fallen on the reactor itself.

It is only last month that two Trident Ploughshares activists exposed the shoddy security at the base when they got on board (and inside) the submarine. Also in November there was a leak of radioactive water into the dock from the submarine.

A recent National Audit Office report revealed that the whole refit programme has fallen so far behind schedule that any further delay could threaten the ability of the Navy to maintain the Trident patrols at the current level. We hope that the pressure caused by delay will not lead to cutting corners with safety. We want these plates to be removed with the utmost care and Vanguard decommissioned - along with the other Trident submarines.

We find ourselves on the terrifying brink of a war in which Britain, judging by recent government statements, might use its nuclear weapons - weapons designed to destroy whole cities. We are calling on everyone who shares our horror at what is being planned in our names to come to the blockade of Faslane on April 22nd and close down the submarine base there."

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