Low levels of radioactivity have been
discovered in the cooling waters of a nuclear submarine test reactor at
Dounreay, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has said.
Mr Hammond told MPs that no leak had occurred and said there were no safety
implications for staff working on the site, or risks to the environment.
But, as a result, HMS Vanguard is to be refuelled with a new nuclear core at
a cost of £120m.
The problem was discovered in 2012.
Labour criticised the government for not announcing the information earlier,
calling it a matter of "national importance".
'Below
scale'
Although the news is only being made public now, the Ministry of Defence says
the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the defence nuclear inspectorate
were kept informed.
Mr Hammond said the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment ran at higher
levels of intensity than those on Britain's fleet of nuclear submarines and was
designed to pre-empt any similar problems with the reactors on board those
vessels.
The defence secretary said: "These low levels of radioactivity are a normal
product of a nuclear reaction that takes place within the fuel but they would
not normally enter the cooling water.
"This water is contained within the sealed reactor circuit and I can reassure
the House there has been no detectable radiation leak from that sealed
circuit.
"Indeed, against the International Atomic Energy Agency's measurement scale
for nuclear-related events this issue is classed Level 0, described as 'below
scale - no safety significance'."
The refuelling of HMS Vanguard - the UK's oldest nuclear submarine - will
take place during its next scheduled "deep maintenance period", due to last
three and a half years from 2015.
'National
security'
Mr Hammond said: "This is the responsible option: replacing the core on a
precautionary basis at the next opportunity, rather than waiting to see if the
core needs to be replaced at a later date which would mean returning Vanguard
for a period of unscheduled deep maintenance, potentially putting at risk the
resilience of our ballistic missile submarine operations."
Mr Hammond said a decision on refuelling the next-oldest submarine, HMS
Victorious, would not need to be taken until 2018.
New submarines for the Trident replacement programme, known as the Successor
submarines, will not be affected by the problem, he added.
For Labour, shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker said the government should
have told the Commons earlier about the fault.
He added: "There must be public confidence in the government to be open and
transparent on these matters.
"A fault, however small, that develops in a nuclear reactor is something that
the British people and this House should have been told about. This is an issue
of national security and national importance."
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