nuclear-news

By WMNAGreenwood  |  Posted: February 13, 2014

The Westcountry will not be used as a holding site for nuclear waste from the country’s redundant submarine fleet, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed.

Campaigners had feared that Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth could have been used to store radioactive material with submarines due to be dismantled on site in future.

However, the MoD has now published its shortlist of five sites from which one will be chosen as the place that radioactive waste from decommissioned submarines is stored until the 2040s, when a planned permanent disposal facility is up and running.

It includes the Atomic Weapons Establishment sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire, Sellafield in West Cumbria, Chapelcross in Dumfriesshire, and Capenhurst in Cheshire.

Until a permanent site is established. the MoD is looking for sites to store the reactor components – categorised as radioactive waste – from its submarines that are no longer in service.

Some 18 former Royal Navy nuclear submarines are currently stored afloat in Devonport and Rosyth, Fife, but cannot be completely dismantled until the reactor components have been safely removed.

They include one Dreadnought class, five Valiant and Courageous class, four Resolution class, six Swiftsure class and two Trafalgar class.

As part of the MoD’s Submarine Dismantling Project (SDP), a further nine submarines that are currently still in service – five Trafalgar class and four Vanguard class – will also be dismantled.

The first dismantling will be at Rosyth, with future dismantling taking place both there and at Devonport.

The MoD said it has identified five nuclear facilities across the UK as potential sites to store the waste from the submarines.

The sites, owned by either the MoD, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) or industry, already hold radioactive materials.

The Atomic Weapons Establishment sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield are owned by the MoD and run by AWE Plc, Sellafield and Chapelcross are owned by the NDA, and Capenhurst is run by Capenhurst Nuclear Services.

A public consultation will take place in late this year, and no decisions will be made until then.

The location chosen will be used as an interim storage site for reactor components until after 2040, when the UK’s Geological Disposal Facility, a deep geological disposal facility for the permanent disposal of spent fuel and nuclear waste, is planned to come into operation.

Philip Dunne, Minister for Defence Equipment Support and Technology, said: “This is another step towards a safe and sustainable solution for the disposal of radioactive waste from our submarine fleet.

“All of the potential sites have a proven track record in handling radioactive material in a safe and secure way.