THE Scottish Greens have demanded an investigation into a series of leaks of water contaminated by radioactive waste from a network of poorly maintained pipes at the Royal Navy's nuclear bases on the Clyde.
The leaks have been occurring over a period of at least 20 years but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has attempted to cover up its negligence by claiming it's a matter of national security.
The information was only finally revealed earlier this month following a six year long battle involving Scotland's information commissioner David Hamilton who finally ruled that the relevant documents should be released after finding that notwithstanding the claims of the MoD, their disclosure only threatened "reputations", not national security.
The Scottish Greens have said the repeated leaks are a “stark failure on the part of the UK Government”, adding that it could have “serious consequences”.
The release of the documents highlights the repeated cover ups by the MoD as it attempted to avoid public awareness of its reckless negligence.
In 2009, it was reported that the two Royal Navy bases on the Clyde, Coulport and nearby Faslane, had seen a series of serious safety breaches involving repeated leaks of radioactive waste from broken pipes and waste tanks.
In a confidential report released under the Freedom of Information Act that year, the MoD has admitted that safety failings at the UK's main nuclear submarine base at Faslane, near Glasgow, are a "recurring theme" and ingrained in the base's culture. The worst breaches included three leaks of radioactive coolant from nuclear submarines in 2004, 2007 and again in 2008.
However, due to a lack of proper maintenance, and the ongoing culture of an acceptance of safety failures at the facility, the pipes continued to burst repeatedly, allowing the loch to be contaminated with radioactive waste in the form of low levels of tritium, which is used in the nuclear warheads stored at Coulport, one of the UK's most secure and secretive military bases.
The MoD has no excuses here. The Royal Navy had been aware of the deterioration in the pipe network since at least 2009, but it was only in March 2020 that the MoD promised to undertake a course of 23 specific actions necessary to remedy a situation which had been causing the leakage of radioactive waste for well over a decade.
Despite this, the MoD failed to take action to maintain and repair the pipes with the result that there were further leaks of radioactive material into the loch in 2021 and again in 2022. The MoD accepted in 2020 that its lack of preparedness had caused “confusion”, “a breakdown in access control” and a “lack of communication of the hazards.”
This, however, did nothing to cause the MoD to ensure that it was any more prepared in future, as the continuing leaks and burst pipes in 2021 and 2022 prove.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) insisted that its assessments found the risk to the environment from the effluent discharges was "of no regulatory concern," while the MoD said there had been "no unsafe releases of radioactive material" into the environment.
Reacting to the latest disclosures, Scottish Greens West Scotland MSP Ross Greer said: "It is scandalous, but given the long list of previous incidents at Faslane and Coulport, its sadly no surprise.
"The Ministry of Defence has long played fast and loose with these weapons of mass slaughter, throwing billions at private contractors whilst failing to even maintain its own facilities.
He added: "These revelations will have been particularly chilling for my constituents who live near the site. To reassure them, UK Ministers must now investigate and explain why it happened and the steps they are taking to ensure it never does again. We need full transparency and accountability, not more secrecy.
“Nuclear weapons are a moral obscenity. They have no place in Scotland. These incidents underline the direct risk to the local communities who host them.
"It's time to disarm our waters and get these dangerous weapons of mass slaughter out of Scotland."
Alba depute leader Neale Hanvey added: “This is a disgraceful cover-up by the UK Government. Radioactive leaks into Scottish waters were kept secret to protect Westminster’s nuclear obsession – not our communities.
“The UK Government and MoD have form when it come to this. When I challenged them on radiation leaks in 2023 their response raised more questions than it answered.
“Scotland is treated as a dumping ground for weapons we don’t want and dangers we didn’t vote for. Independence is the only way we rid ourselves of nuclear weapons and end this toxic disregard for our nation’s safety.”
The MoD has a long history of disregard for the Scottish environment and a culture of denial and cover up in which it is enabled by the Crown Immunity which it and its facilities enjoy. When you are literally above the law there is no incentive for the MoD to take environmental and public safety issues seriously, no matter what reassuring words a MoD spokesperson puts out in a press release when the MoD has been unable to maintain secrecy about its negligence and carelessness.
Refusing to accept nuclear waste is for woke snowflakes …
Also on an unwanted nuclear theme, concerns have been raised by the UK Government’s “utterly reckless” approach to nuclear energy – as a new report recommends ministers tear up “needless” regulations in order to speed up the development of new civilian nuclear power projects.
A taskforce commissioned by the UK Government to look into nuclear regulations has recommended a “radical reset” to speed up projects. Its final report is expected to focus on tackling what the UK Government described as a “culture of risk aversion” in nuclear energy regulation, because apparently avoiding risk is a bad thing now.
Presumably we need to throw caution to the wind and start making our tea with the Royal Navy's waste water contaminated by Tritium, after all it's only being "risk averse" that stops us doing so. Refusing to accept radioactive waste is for woke snowflakes. Everyone knows that radioactive snowflakes are much prettier as they glow in the dark.
Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater said: “This seems utterly reckless. Nuclear energy is extremely costly and insecure, and it leaves a long and toxic legacy for future generations.
“The last thing we should be doing is cutting corners, especially when it comes to something so dangerous.”
She added that nuclear energy was “totally unnecessary when it comes to our environmental objectives”.
