Devonport naval base’s CND nuclear role Her Majesty’s Naval Base Devonport, in the middle of the city of Plymouth, is where the United Kingdom’s submarines – including those armed with Trident missiles and nuclear warheads – undergo refuelling of their nuclear reactors and refurbishment of their systems. This work has potentially hazardous consequences, and the nuclear site has a history of significant accidents involving radioactive discharges. LL of Britain’s submarines are nuclear- both there and in Devonport. Submarines will be powered and the four Vanguard-class defueled before the dismantling process begins. Asubmarines carry the UK’s nuclear weapons Defueling is the most dangerous operation of the system, Trident. One dock at Devonport is entire decommissioning process. specifically designed to maintain these nuclear weapons submarines. Other docks are used to store Radioactive Reactor Pressure Vessels (each the size nuclear submarines that have been decommissioned of two double-decker buses and weighing around and await having their nuclear reactors removed and 750 tonnes) will be removed from the nuclear- the radioactive metals and components dismantled powered submarines at both Devonport and and sent as nuclear waste for storage. Rosyth dockyards and stored intact at Capenhurst, prior to disposal in a planned – but as yet non- In 2013 the Ministry of Defence confirmed that existent – Geological Disposal Facility. The Devonport is one of two sites in the UK (the other Ministry of Defence (MoD) is yet to find a location is Rosyth in Fife) where decommissioned nuclear- for storing intermediate level radioactive waste, and powered submarines will be dismantled once a site is using storage facilities at Sellafield reprocessing for the waste has been identified. Radioactive waste facility which is the subject of separate safety will be removed from the boats at the site and concerns. transferred to Capenhurst Nuclear Services in Cheshire. This carries the risk of radioactive leaks The government has acknowledged that contaminating the local environment, with possible dismantling submarines at Devonport is environ - adverse health and safety effects on the local mentally ‘sensitive’. 1 There are about 25 tonnes of community. It is therefore particularly worrying that radio active waste in the reactors of each decomm - this will take place in Plymouth, which is the largest issioned submarine. Local campaigners ran a 10- city on the south coast of Britain with a population year campaign of opposition to the proposal for of around a quarter of a million people. The base, storage facilities to be established at the dockyard, which is situated alongside schools and housing resulting in the proposals being withdrawn. estates, does not have a good safety record, with various accidents in the past causing radioactive Refitting nuclear-powered submarines substances to leak into the atmosphere and local Devonport Dockyard is the only refit facility for river, Tamar. nuclear-powered submarines in the UK. Its work includes servicing the Vanguard class submarines Dismantling submarines which carry the UK’s nuclear weapons. The life of Britain has 19 submarines waiting to be the Vanguard class submarines has been extended decommissioned and a further eight which are nearing until 2032 and so this work will carry on in the end of their shelf life. An interim site for storing Devonport for many years to come. Low level nuclear waste was selected in 2016, and so radioactive waste from the routine maintenance is decommissioning work can now begin in Devonport, disposed of at the dockyard during the process. though a timeline has not yet been announced. After around ten years of service, each of the four After an initial trial of the radioactive waste removal nuclear weapons submarines – HMS Vanguard, process at Rosyth, the submarines will be dismantled Victorious, Vigilant and Vengeance – dock Key sections of a Vanguard Class, Trident missile submarine Nuclear Reactor Missile Compartment Control Turbine Room Missile Compartment Torpedo tubes unarmed at Devonport for substantial refits. The refit involves of the submarines when at sea. The Environment Agency the refuelling of the submarine’s nuclear reactor. The spent fuel therefore approves a discharge level over five times more rods, which are highly radioactive, are removed from the radioactive than previously allowed, increasing the risk to the submarine and replaced and the whole system is overhauled and people of Plymouth. updated. Officially, this whole process is termed the ‘long overhaul period (refuelling)’ or LOP(R). Plutonium, americium and tritium, highly toxic radioactive chemicals, have been found on the Plymouth coastline As the first to be launched, HMS Vanguard was the first to go including at a wildlife reserve close to the Dockyard, with a into refit in February 2002 – the refit took three years six series of spikes in contamination since 2007. 2 Although months. HMS Victorious was next and her refit took three radioactive discharges from Devonport are said to be at a years and eight months, resuming patrols in 2009. HMS comparatively low level, there are concerns that tritium may be Vigilant completed a refit in 2012 and HMS Vengeance more harmful than previously thought. Research carried out by returned to the sea after a three-and-a-half year refit in the Health Protection Agency concluded that much more December 2015. HMS Vanguard is now back in Devonport research was needed into the effects of tritium. 3 The for a second time. Environmental Protection Agency in the United States says Tritium can increase the risk of cancer. Plutonium has a half- Each submarine is powered by a nuclear reactor. At each life of at least 24,000 years and is highly toxic, leading to submarine’s refit, the reactor core is replaced. The old reactor radiation illness, cancer and often death. core is moved to Sellafield to be stored, as are the spent fuel rods. The reactor heads are radioactive steel domes three feet thick with a diameter of nine feet and weighing up to 28 Accidents tonnes. These are removed and replaced during refit to allow Various nuclear accidents have occurred at the site over the the submarines to be refuelled. past decade. Radioactive water leaked from HMS Turbulent in March 2009, while the reactor’s discharge system was being Campaigners protested in 2009 and then in 2011 when it flushed. In November 2008, 280 litres of radioactive liquid emerged that reactor heads removed from the submarines were poured into the River Tamar after a hose burst. In 2005, refit being cut up at Devonport. As a result of protest, Plymouth will work was temporarily suspended on HMS Victorious after two not be a site for interim storage of radioactive waste, with radioactive leaks in one week. All in all, at least ten serious Capenhurst in Cheshire chosen instead. nuclear leaks have been reported at Devonport in the last thirty years with 570 litres of radioactive liquid lost overall. Radioactive discharges Radioactive discharges are emitte d during the refit process and The numerous accidents have led to local people feeling mainly contain the radionuclides carbon-14, cobalt-60 and tritium. increasingly anxious regarding increased radioactive Liquid radioactive waste is discharged via pipeline into the river contamination of their environment. In a government Tamar and is likely to contain tritium. Tritium is a radioactive consultation on the submarine dismantling project, many of element created in the core and coolant system of the nuclear the responses from the Devonport community raised concerns power reactor in the submarines. The coolant water is released about the risk of an accident. 4 from the submarines whilst they are undergoing refit. In the Vanguard class submarines, the water coolant is sealed in the Costs reactor units for much longer, so it becomes more radioactive. The government has confirmed that at least £243 million will be This is to avoid its detection in sea water, giving away the position spent over the next few years on refurbishing the submarine refit Britain’s nuclear-powered submarines Decommissioned Decommissioned Currently Planned stored afloat at Devonport stored afloat at Rosyth in service Valiant Dreadnought Torbay 1 Audacious Warspite Resolution Trenchant 2 Anson Conqueror Repulse Talent 3 Agamemnon Courageous Renown Triumph 4 Boat 7, Astute class Sovereign Revenge Vanguard Splendid Churchill Victorious Trident 4 Dreadnought class nuclear Spartan Swiftsure Vigilant armed (nuclear armed) Superb Vengeance Sceptre Astute Trafalgar Ambush Turbulent Artful Tireless Due to be decommissioned by: 12017 22019 32021 42022 complex at Devonport. 5 Additional funding was announced in Plans for a marine energy research and development hub at the 2014 .6 The Ministry of Defence refuses to confirm the total South Yard of the Devonport base do not fit with the amount of public money to be spent on the Submarine maintenance of the nuclear dockyard in the North Yard and may Dismantling Project. act as a barrier to inward civil investment. The financial and social cost of the nuclear dock appears to far outweigh any Conclusion benefits to Plymouth over time. CND does not want to see the city of Plymouth become a nuclear waste processing site. The people of Plymouth have The government should instead invest in a regenerative strategy the right to live in a safe environment – a city-centre location, for the city, providing long-term sustainable jobs. on a site a few