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Eight disused submarines are already being stored
at Devonport
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An anti-nuclear campaigner has raised
concerns officials have already decided Plymouth
Ian Avent, who sits on the Submarine Dismantling
Project (SDP) consultation advisory group, said he feared it was a "done
deal" for Devonport Dockyard.
His concerns come after the SDP panel, which is to
recommend how to dispose of submarines, lost two members.
The government said that no decision had been taken
yet.
The UK
Eight disused vessels are being stored at
Devonport, ahead of being dismantled, while seven are at Rosyth, in Fife .
The SDP panel has to decide how to deal with the
radioactive and non-radioactive hazardous wastes from the submarines in the
short and long-term.
However, earlier this week, government adviser
Peter Lanyon resigned from it in protest at the sacking of his colleague, Dr
Jane Hunt.
Mr Lanyon said his position was no longer tenable
as his views and those of his dismissed colleague were not being considered.
Mr Avent, who is on the SDP panel and is a member
of the local pressure group CANSAR (the Campaign Against Nuclear Storage And
Radiation), said he was concerned Dr Hunt was sacked because the government was
given advice it did not want to hear.
He said: "I'm frightened that it's a done
deal. I'm frightened that the consultation might be just window dressing.
"If that's the case, what are we left with?
We're left with our councillors and our MPs to defend us."
The government said that it did listen to
scientists' advice.
Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and
Climate Change, who was at the Met Office in Exeter
"In the end, government has to make its
decisions on the basis of the best scientific evidence available to it.
"We should be by guided by the science and
that is the approach that we'll take."
Source: BBC. 6 November 2009
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