3 months ago
36
Defence chiefs have written to the NFLA Spokesperson on Nuclear Submarine Decommissioning reassuring him that ‘the Ministry of Defence remains committed to disposing its decommissioned submarines, including the waste they produce, within the UK’.
Councillor Brian Goodall, who represents the Rosyth Ward in Scotland where decommissioning is currently taking place, wrote to the outgoing Defence and Foreign Secretaries on 17 May seeking their assurance that redundant British nuclear submarines will not be sent to Australia for disposal.
In Australia, in relation to the AUKUS defence pact, legislators have proposed a new Naval Nuclear Power Safety Bill 2024, which appears to provide under Clauses 7 and 12 of the Bill for the disposal of high level radioactive waste from British and American submarines on Australian soil, and also for the storage of such materials in Australia from ‘a submarine that is not complete (for example, because it is being constructed or disposed of)’.
Councillor Goodall is concerned that this could theoretically mean the British Government ‘permitting towing redundant UK boats from Rosyth and Devonport down under for disposal’. Councillor Goodall fears that, were this to become practice and not just theory, local expertise and the jobs of his constituents could be lost.
In their response, defence officials say they continue to work on completing the decommissioning of the submarine Swiftsure at Rosyth by 2026 ‘by adopting a unique approach that will maximise the amount of the submarine that can be recycled and minimise the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of’. Radioactive waste will be taken to Capenhurst, Cheshire for interim storage until a Geological Disposal Facility is completed for its eventual disposal. This includes the reactor from each dismantled submarine.
Knowledge acquired as a result of the submarine decommissioning work will be shared by the MOD with Australia.
Ends…For more information please contact Richard Outram, NFLA Secretary, by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
The letter sent to Lord Cameron and Grant Shapps on 17 May read:
The Lord David Cameron, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs,
The Rt. Hon. Grant Shapps MP, Secretary of State for Defence
Dear Secretaries of State,
The future disposal of AUKUS submarine waste in Australia
As the Spokesperson on Nuclear Submarine Decommissioning for the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities, I am writing to you to seek your assurance that the United Kingdom would not avail itself of any facility provided by the Australian Government to dispose of any of its own radioactive waste resulting from the operation of British nuclear submarines.
For some inexplicable reason, the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Bill 2024, which has recently been subject of a Senate Inquiry, appears to provide within Clauses 7 and 12 of the Bill for the disposal of waste from UK and US operated submarines, in addition to that from Australian navy vessels. The legislation specifically references the ‘managing, storing or disposing of radioactive waste from an AUKUS submarine’ in a bespoke facility, with an AUKUS submarine being described as ‘an Australian submarine or a UK/US submarine’. Furthermore, it provides for the storage of such arisings from ‘a submarine that is not complete (for example, because it is being constructed or disposed of)’, which might even theoretically be read as permitting towing redundant UK boats from Rosyth and Devonport down under for disposal!
Secretaries of State, frankly this seems either a massive – and probably unintended – faux pax by Australian legislators, or an incredible gesture of largesse on the part of Britain’s AUKUS ally.
Opponents of the Bill are now seeking amendments to ensure that the revised Bill does not provide for the storage of High-Level Waste from UK and US submarines, nor provide for the storage of allied vessels during a prolonged process of construction or decommissioning.
Surely as the operators of our own submarines, the UK Government should remain responsible for the storage of the resultant HLW and for their safe decommissioning in home ports. Not only will this preserve the expertise in these matters that has developed after many years of trial and error, but, as a Ward Member for the Rosyth Dockyard, it will also preserve the jobs in my local community.
I am writing to seek your reassurance that this shall remain the case.
Thank you kindly for giving this letter your consideration. I very much look forward to your reply. Please respond by email to the NFLA Secretary Richard Outram at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Brian Goodall, Rosyth Ward, Fife Council
The response received from the Ministry of Defence, Defence Nuclear Organisation Secretariat, dated 3 June:
