COUNCIL OF Brussels, 20 December 2000 (22.12) THE EUROPEAN UNION (OR. fr) 14133/00 NM LIMITE PE-&E 536 PRELIMINAR) DRAFT REPL) TO WRITTEN QUESTION P-3584/00 put by Laura GON2ALE2 AL3ARE2 on 14 November 2000 from : General Secretariat of the Council to : Permanent Re resentations of the Member States Subject : Damaged British nuclear submarine HMS Tireless docked in Gibraltar 1. Delegations will find attached: œ the te,t of the above Written Question; œ a reliminar1 draft re l1 re ared b1 the General Secretariat. 2. If no comments have been received from delegations within 10 wor8ing days of toda1, this reliminar1 draft re l1 will be submitted to the Permanent Re resentatives Committee 4Part 1) and to the Council for a roval. An1 comments received will be e,amined b1 the .orking Part1 on General Affairs. ______________________ 14133/00 ani/AM/jr 1 DG F I EN WRITTEN QUESTION P-3584/00 put by Laura González >lvarez on (1UE/N1L) to the Council Subject: Damaged British nuclear submarine HMS Tireless, docked in Gibraltar The British nuclear submarine HMS Tireless has been docked at the British naval base in Gibraltar since 19 Ma1 2000 for re airs to its damaged rimar1 coolant circuit. The British authorities have given conflicting accounts regarding the e,tent of the damage, whilst the re air eriod, initiall1 announced as lasting onl1 three months, has now been e,tended to summer 2001. The Ro1al 8av1 rohibits re airs to nuclear9 owered submarines in orts with facilities such as those in Gibraltar 4:9class orts5 and onl1 authorises such re airs in X9class bases such as those at Devon ort and Faslane in the United Kingdom, which have medical equi ment, evacuation lans and s ecial machiner1. This fact, together with the h1 othetical danger of a radioactive lea( to ublic health, has rom ted requests from the Autonomous Government of Andalusia and the ma1ors of the areas of S ain bordering Gibraltar that the submarine be moved back to the United Kingdom. Could the Council a roach the British and S anish authorities with a request that the1 rovide the inhabitants of the Gibraltar area with recise, ongoing and com rehensive information as to the otential risks, the e,tent of the damage and the re air lans, that the1 guarantee ermanent monitoring of radioactivit1 levels in the local water and air and, should the vessel undergo re air in Gibraltar, that the1 im lement a nuclear emergenc1 and evacuation lan, which the Gibraltar area currentl1 lacks? Could the Council recommend that the damaged submarine be moved bac( to the United Kingdom, where it could undergo re air at a s ecialised and safe base? ________________________ 14133/00 ani/AM/jr 2 DG F I EN REPL) to Written Question P-3584/00 by Laura GON2ALE2 AL3ARE2 (1UE/N1L) The United Kingdom authorities have not referred the matter of the submarine docked in Gibraltar to the Council, which cannot therefore re l1 to these questions. In addition, the Honourable Member is reminded that the matter of Member States' im lementation of Communit1 law, in this case Council Directive 89/618/Euratom, falls within the Commission's s here of com etence. 14133/00 ani/AM/jr 3 DG F I EN .