700 nuclear mishaps found at nuke bases
MORE than 700 nuclear safety events have been recorded at Scotland’s nuclear bases since 2006, the Ministry of Defence have admitted.
Defence Minister Stuart Andrew revealed the figures in letters to SNP MP Deidre Brock.
A total of 789 nuclear safety events were recorded at the Faslane naval base and the nearby Royal Navy armaments depot at Coulport between 2006 and 2018.
In November, the MoD said 505 incidents had taken place at Faslane, where the majority of the UK’s nuclear submarine fleet is based.
A further letter now shows 284 incidents took place at Coulport, where the nuclear warheads are stored and loaded on to the submarines, in the same period.
Andrew said it was practice to record all “low-level events and near misses… to help avoid more significant events”.
A more serious Category A incident took place in 2008, when water overflowed from a now-decommissioned primary effluent barge. Later sampling found low or barely detectable levels of tritium and cobalt.
Brock said: “It’s a shocking record of accidents and incidents in places where the most dangerous weapons on the planet are.”