Faslane and Coulport, Appalling Safety Record

bases over the past three years, with the frequency of incidents rising
sharply. More than eight of ten of the incidents took place at HM Naval
Base Clyde at Faslane, home to the bulk of the UK’s nuclear submarine
fleet. Scores of safety events were also registered at the Royal Naval
Armaments Depot at Coulport, where the nuclear warheads are stored and
loaded onto the submarines. Deidre Brock, the SNP MP who obtained the
figures, described it as an “appalling safety record” and warned that
just one error could subject Scotland to “utter devastation”. However,
defence minister Jeremy Quin said the “safety significance” of the
reported events was low, with none causing harm or resulting in the
discharge of radioactive waste. In all, some 443 so-called nuclear site
event reports (NSER) took place between 2018 and 2020. Three of the
incidents – two at Coulport and one at Faslane – were classed as
‘category B’, the second most severe level on a sliding scale. The
Ministry of Defence (MoD) classifies category B incidents as having
“actual or high potential for radioactive release to the environment of
quantities below IRR99 [Ionising Radiations Regulations]”.

Scotsman 16th May 2021

https://www.scotsman.com/news/defence/revealed-nearly-450-safety-incidents-at-scottish-nuclear-bases-3235930

Nuclear weapons in Scotland: UK government must be more open about safety
events after dramatic rise – Scotsman comment. From the most ardent
opponent of ‘the bomb’ to the strongest supporter of Britain’s
independent ‘deterrent’, we can all agree one thing – the safety of
our nuclear weapons is of paramount importance. The problem for the UK
government is that the lack of clarity about what actually happened and the
apparent unwillingness to explain allows others to fill in the blanks.
According to Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland,
there were at least 18 cases in which radioactivity was “almost certainly
released to the environment”. Why can the MoD not simply set the record
straight? For obvious reasons, there has to be a fairly high degree of
secrecy about our nuclear arsenal, but the lack of openness about safety
incidents does little but feed suspicions that something is not quite
right. If all is well, they should demonstrate this to the public’s
satisfaction.

Scotsman 16th May 2021

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/nuclear-weapons-in-scotland-uk-government-must-be-more-open-about-safety-events-after-dramatic-rise-scotsman-comment-3237894