![]() (This is for the 27 boats listed above – Astute-class dismantling is not yet being considered.) All this effort and expense is a drain on precious MoD resources for zero operational gain with each delay adding to the cost. The total disposal cost will be at least £3bn over 25 years and continue into the 2040s. Every further delay adds to this and will have to be funded from a defence budget that is much smaller in real terms than when the boats were ordered and built during the Cold War. The expense of afloat storage and maintenance of decommissioned boats is rising – currently costing approximately £30M per year. Submarines that have not had fuel removed have the reactor primary circuit chemically treated to guarantee it remains inert and additional radiation monitoring equipment is fitted.Īpart from regular monitoring, once every 15 years each boat has to be dry-docked for a Survey and Docking Period (SADP) which involves hull inspection and preservation work. This is because in 2003 the facilities for de-fuelling were deemed no longer safe enough to meet modern regulation standards and the process was halted. The 7 submarines in Rosyth have all had their nuclear fuel rods removed but of the 14 in Devonport, 10 are still fuelled. While awaiting dismantling, decommissioned submarines are stored afloat in a non-tidal basin in the dockyard. ![]() ![]() Ex-Royal-Navy-Submarines-awaiting-dismanting Afloat storage They will eventually be moved to a permanent underground Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) but successive governments have failed to agree on a site for the GDF that needs to be built in the 2040s. The Reactor Pressure Vessels (RPV) removed from the submarines are classed as ILW and will temporarily be stored in purpose-built buildings above ground. Low-Level Waste (LLW) is stored at Sellafield in concrete-lined vaults and in 2017 URENCO Nuclear Stewardship Ltd at Capenhurst in Cheshire was selected as the interim site for storing the more dangerous Intermediate Level Waste (ILW). It would be prudent if a similar principle was applied by the MoD to all new nuclear submarine construction.īesides the attraction of deferring costs in the short-term, a major cause of delays has been the selection of a land storage site for radioactive waste. In the civil nuclear industry, operators are required by law to put aside funds and make plans during the life of the plant to pay for decommissioning. HMS Dreadnought decommissioned in 1980, has now been tied up in Rosyth far longer than she was in active service. Stricter rules have added more complexity and cost to the dismantling process, ironically adding delays and increasing the amount of nuclear waste awaiting appropriate disposal. Over time the nuclear regulatory frameworks have become ever-more demanding than when the submarines were conceived. More than £500M has been spent on submarine storage and maintenance since the RN’s first nuclear boat was withdrawn. ![]() Small reactors sealed up and contained within the boats do not represent a great hazard but maintaining them safely while they await dismantling is a growing drain on the defence budget. Planning for the dismantling of these submarines should have been started at that time, but only in the last 10 years has there been a serious effort to grip the issue. In a less environmentally conscious era, filling the boats with concrete and sinking them in the deep ocean was the original plan but the disposal of nuclear waste at sea was banned by the London Dumping Convention in 1983. Unfortunately, successive governments failed to make arrangements for the timely disposal of these boats. An outstanding industrial, and political effort during the Cold War provided the RN with a formidable nuclear submarine force. Since the 1960s, nuclear submarines have become arguably amongst the most important defence assets of the UK. Here we look at the process and the modest progress in efforts to dismantle them. There are currently 21 former Royal Navy nuclear submarines awaiting disposal, 7 in Rosyth and 14 in Devonport.
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