Coulport - increased pollution

Radioactive air pollution from the nuclear weapons plant at Coulport, on the Clyde, has more than doubled over the last six years, prompting cancer warnings from campaigners. Emissions of the radioactive gas, tritium, from the Royal Naval Armaments Depot on Loch Long, have risen steadily between 2018 and 2023 from 1.7 billion to 4.2 billion units of radioactivity, according to the latest official figures. Campaigners say that tritium is “very hazardous” when it is breathed in, and can increase the risk of cancers. But according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), the emissions are well within safety limits. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has declined to say what has caused the increased pollution. Tritium is known to leak from ageing nuclear submarine reactors, and is also an essential component of nuclear bombs. Coulport, eight miles from the nuclear submarine base at Faslane on the Gareloch, is where Trident missiles and nuclear warheads are stored. They are loaded on and off Vanguard nuclear-powered submarines at an explosives handling jetty. The rising tritium emissions from Coulport have been revealed in Sepa’s Scottish Pollution Release Inventory. The inventory was updated in October 2024 to include figures for 2023. Increasing tritium air pollution from Coulport was described as “worrying” by Dr Ian Fairlie, an expert on radioactivity in the environment and a former UK government advisor. He is now vice-president of the UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. “First, they are large, more than four billion becquerels per year; second, they are steadily increasing; and third, they are of tritium – which is very hazardous when it’s inhaled or ingested,” he told The Ferret. The 26-strong nuclear-free-group of local authorities is planning on writing to the MoD urging it to tackle the pollution. “Given that Trident submarines are getting older, this is a problem which is likely to get worse,” said the group’s policy advisor, Pete Roche.