Submarine Decommissioning
Posted: 16th September 2024
Rosyth submarine dismantling project making good progress. Seven have been laid up at the dockyard for decades and the Ministry of Defence said most of the low-level waste has now been removed from Swiftsure, Resolution, Revenge and Repulse. The project will eventually see 27 subs dismantled and disposed of with the remaining metals recycled and turned into “tin cans and razor blades”. There are 22 that have already left service, seven are at Rosyth – Dreadnought has been there so long, since 1980, that most of the low-level radiation has “disappeared naturally” – and 15 at Devonport, Plymouth. Storage costs are £30 million a year. The MoD said: “With each submarine that is processed, more waste has been managed to final disposal, at a faster rate and at lower cost as techniques have been refined and optimised. ”For example, on Resolution, 50 per cent greater tonnage of waste was removed in three quarters of the time that Swiftsure had taken. There are three stages: removing low-level radioactive waste; removing the reactor pressure vessel, it’s described as intermediate level waste and the component that remains radioactive for the longest period; and, once all radioactive material has gone, recycling. Work started on Swiftsure in 2015-16 and the Rosyth team have learned lessons as they go, allowing them to remove more low-level waste from Resolution, Revenge and Repulse. They then moved onto a “world first”, the removal of the reactor from Revenge, the most radioactive part left in the sub, as well as the steam generators. Earlier this year Babcock tabled plans for a new building at Rosyth Dockyard to dismantle the boats. A separate application was previously submitted for a metal waste disposal facility at the corner of Wood Road and Caledonia Road. Once all the radioactive waste has been removed, around 90 per cent of the remaining materials will be recycled. Local councillors were told, in November 2022, of a UK Government pledge to “de-nuclearise Rosyth” by 2035.
Dunfermline Press 13th Sept 2024
Babcock International yesterday welcomed Maria Eagle MP, Minister of State for Defence Procurement and Industry, to open both its upgraded submarine facility in Devonport and its new Babcock Engineering and Nuclear Skills building at City College Plymouth. The company has completed an extensive regeneration project of 9 Dock in Devonport which includes maintenance, life extension and facility improvements, delivering the most significant package of infrastructure work since the early 2000s. The site will receive the UK Vanguard Class submarines, which are critical in supporting the UK’s Continuous at Sea Deterrent. As part of Babcock’s long-term partnership with the Submarine Delivery Agency, including the maintenance of the UK’s Vanguard class submarines, the upgraded facility will deliver the current £560 million maintenance programme already underway on HMS Victorious, extending the boat’s operational life and securing around 1,000 local jobs.
Machinery Market 13th Sept 2024
https://www.machinery-market.co.uk/news/38099/Nuclear-submarine-support-facility-upgraded-