The Herald has published an authoritative article on the Ministry of Defence plan to privatise the Royal Navy Armament Depot Coulport. This is the base where nuclear warheads are stored, loaded to and unloaded from British nuclear submarines as they leave and return from patrols. This is said to be the most dangerous job in the nuclear industry and Coulport is the only UK site where such work is undertaken. MOD concerns are said to be that the current workforce is ageing, many are due to retire and there is a problem with recruitment and training of younger replacements.

For Argyll has twice in the past three months drawn attention to the current situation in Coulport where warheads that would normally have gone for servicing to Burghfield in Berkshire have had to be stockpiled at the base. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) shut down Burghfield in December 2007 because, for six years, it had failed to address over one thousand safety shortfalls. Burghfield, with Aldermaston, is described as a ‘nuclear bomb factory; and is responsible for one of the most dangerous processes in nuclear power management – the dismantling and re-assembly of warheads during routine servicing. In our news piece on 2nd May (see May 2008 Archives) we noted that authoritative concerns were being expressed on the impact of Burghfield’s shut down on Coulport.

This situation and its potential reccurence must add to the anxieties around privatisation of the base during this difficult period. Nearby Faslane, the UK’s most important submarine base and planned to be its only one within the next fifteen years, is already privatised. It is run for the MOD by Babcock Naval Services. Around 6,500 people are employed at Faslane and a further 550 at Coulport.

An interesting issue around the proposed privatisation is that the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate has not been permitted to inspect operations at Faslane and Coulport. The MOD’s case for this has been that Faslane and Coulport, alongside Rosyth in Fife and the Vulcan naval test reactor at Dounreay in Caithness are military facilities and beyond the authority of the NII. Privatisation of Coulport in addition to Faslane gives credence to the counter-argument that these sites should now be opened up for inspection.

The Scottish Parliament voted around a year ago to oppose the replacement of Trident, proposed by Tony Blair, supported by Westminster and now being taken forward by Gordon Brown. As in our news piece of 26th July, Faslane is due to receive HMS Astute, the first of the Navy’s new Astute class submarines at the end of this month.

Related Posts

• Argyll concerns as UK Government sells last stake in Britain’s UK-based nuclear warhead production to America (0)
• £18.5 bn cost of Trident warheads at Argyll’s Clyde bases (0)
• Internal Royal Navy air rifle shooters detained by MoD Police at Faslane (0)
• Responses to first news of MoD plans for Argyll submarine nuclear waste sites (2)
• MoD, Argyll, redundant submarines and nuclear waste disposal (8)

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