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How safe is Scotland’s nuclear submarine graveyard ?

Questions raised over safety regime at Scotland’s nuclear submarine graveyard, HeraldScotland, Rob Edwards / 11:13 Sunday 10 January 2016 The safety regime at the Rosyth naval dockyard, home to seven defunct nuclear submarines, has been called into question after an emergency exercise failed to demonstrate adequate arrangements for rescuing casualties from an accident.

The UK government’s nuclear safety watchdog has ordered Babcock, the multinational company that runs the Fife dockyard for the Royal Navy, to rerun the exercise, codenamed Nightstar, in March because of mistakes made last September.

An inspection by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) concluded that there were flaws in the way that staff looked after injured people during the exercise at the base known as ‘Scotland’s nuclear graveyard’. There were also communication and command problems in dealing with the imagined accident.

 The revelation has prompted “unease” about safety at the naval base, according to the local MP. Anti-nuclear campaigners have highlighted the serious risks of accidents, and demanded higher standards.

The problems with the Nightstar exercise on September 30 2015 were disclosed in the ONR’s latest three-monthly report on Rosyth. Though inspectors thought that some of the exercise procedures were adequate, others were not……..

Looking after the submarines to ensure that radioactivity doesn’t leak and contaminate the environment has cost the MoD £13.5 million over the last five years. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14194001.Questions_raised_over_safety_regime_at_Scotland_s_nuclear_submarine_graveyard/

January 11, 2016 - Posted by | safety, UK

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