ONE of the most controversial proposals to affect Plymouth
The Ministry of Defence has today begun a 16-week
consultation exercise exploring the options for dismantling decommissioned
nuclear-powered submarines.
The consultation aims to find a permanent home for
The Submarine Dismantling Project (SDP) – either in Plymouth ,
or Scotland
Peter Luff MP, The Minister for Defence Equipment,
Support and Technology, yesterday released a statement to the House of Commons
regarding the SDP.
"Submarines in afloat storage are maintained
safely, in a similar way to operational submarines," he said.
"As they age, however, and as further
submarines leave service, the cost to the taxpayer of maintaining them is
rising significantly, and space to store them is running out.
"This consultation will seek the public's
views on the proposals that have been developed by the MoD's Submarine
Dismantling Project for dismantling and disposing of the submarines in a safe,
secure and environmentally responsible way."
There are currently 27 submarines (of past and
current classes from Dreadnought to Vengeance) which could be dismantled.
As it stands Devonport and Rosyth in Scotland
A series of events, including exhibitions, displays
and workshops, will be held in and around Devonport and Rosyth.
National workshops will also be held in accessible
locations in England and Scotland
There are 3 key decisions on which the MoD is
seeking the public's views:
- How the radioactive
waste is removed;
- Where the
radioactive waste is removed; and
- options for storing
the waste that cannot be disposed of immediately.
The main activities required to dismantle
submarines include:
Initial Dismantling: All radioactive material on the submarine will be
removed.
This is mainly metalwork inside the reactor
compartment that has become radioactive during use.
Interim Storage: The radioactive waste that cannot be disposed of
immediately will be placed into 'interim' storage, until a disposal solution is
available sometime after 2040.
Ship-recycling: Once the radioactive material has been removed,
the submarine hull will be broken up and recycled in a similar way to Royal
Navy surface ships.
Any other hazardous waste will be disposed of
through existing permitted disposal routes.
All the responses received during the consultation
process will be considered by the MoD during its further analysis of the
options.
A final decision will then be made and planning
applications for the specific site will be submitted.
An announcement is expected to be made in 2013.
The consultation period will run from today until
February 17 next year.
This period has been extended from the 12-week
minimum to account for the Christmas holidays and in recognition of the
interest in the project.
Last night the Ministry of Defence said it could
not provide details of where and when exactly the consultation events would be
staged in the Plymouth
Further details of the events were today expected
to be announced by the MoD.
Full details of the Submarine Dismantling Project
are available on the website: www.mod.uk/submarinedismantling.
Event details are expected to be listed in full on
this website.
YES: Peter Smith, Chairman of the industrial trade
unions at Devonport Dockyard.
DEVONPORT is already a centre of excellence for
submarine refits and we have one of the most highly trained work forces in this
field anywhere in the world.
Ensuring that this expertise is retained in the Plymouth
Not only is there an existing workforce of 4,000
employed by the submarine programme, but future apprentices depend on high
quality engineering projects such as this to learn their trade and ensure a
future career.
At a time when unemployment in Plymouth
The nuclear industry is one of the most highly
regulated in the world, and Devonport leads the way in many areas.
All work is carried out in a thoroughly controlled
manner and closely monitored by the trade unions, to ensure neither workers or
the local residents are exposed to any hazards.
The work involved in dismantling submarines is less
hazardous than the routine work currently undertaken at the Dockyard.
The key is in the word “dismantling” – this is
highly controlled engineering work, not some rough and ready, large scale ship
breaking process.
There appears to be a concern that this work
carries some form of risk which could affect Plymouth
All fuel is removed from the boats before any
dismantling work commences leaving a series of very stable and “ordinary”
components to be dismantled. In fact, the average operator involved in submarine
dismantling will receive a radiation dose over the lifetime of the project only
equivalent to one tenth of the average natural background dose that all of us
receive in the South West of England every year.
The submarines are stored at Devonport already, so
why wouldn’t we want to do this work that will provide valuable employment, and
is less hazardous than our current work?
This project will actually reduce risk and not
increase it. The submarines, and any waste generated through their dismantling,
will ultimately be disposed of off site, therefore, removing the disused boats
from Plymouth
NO: Jeremy Guise, Chairman, City of Plymouth
SOMETIMES on a Monday morning, an eerie sound can
be heard wailing across Plymouth
It provides both reassurance that safety procedures
are in place – and a disconcerting reminder of the accident hazards behind the
dockyard wall.
The proposed Submarine Dismantling Project
represents a significant intensification of the hazard posed by the nuclear
dockyard.
Whatever rigorous safety procedures are in place,
no human activity is completely risk-free.
It is the magnitude of the consequences of a
nuclear accident that make it unacceptable to locate such a facility in the
middle of a city of 250,000 people.
Although nothing on the scale of Chernobyl
or Fukushima
The impact of a significant accident in the
dockyard would be devastating.
It would not remain confined behind its walls but
would affect a much wider area.
Within a few hundred metres of the dockyard wall
there is a primary school and established residential communities.
Why then has Plymouth been chosen, as one of just
two potential sites, to be worldwide guinea pigs for an unproven, and
potentially dangerous technique, of removing the section of hull containing the
reactor core of obsolete nuclear powered submarines and cutting it up into
small pieces for selling as recyclable metal?
I believe it is primarily motivated by the large
profits that Babcock and the other contractors hope to earn from this process.
In return for a few specialist jobs, Plymouth would become known as the ‘Sellafield of the
South West’, a poor, blighted city that the rest of the world hurries through
on its way to Cornwall
There is an alternative.
We could, like the Americans, store the hull
sections containing the nuclear reactors away from settlements and regenerate
the dockyard to provide thousands of new marine engineering jobs making wave
and wind power machines.
Public consultation on the submarine disposal has
started.
This is the most important decision the city has
faced in years. I hope all those who care for the future of this city raise
their voices in opposition to this proposal.
Source: The Plymouth
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/N-subs-dismantled-city/story-13686266-detail/story.html
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