British base workers exposed to Trident radiation
A new report says safety breach at a nuclear weapons base in the United Kingdom exposed workers to radiation in 2012.
20 workers received ‘low dose of radiation’ while repairing a nuclear submarine at the Faslane nuclear base in Scotland.
The workers were accidentally exposed to radiation as they were repairing a leaking tank on a Trident nuclear submarine at the same time as a nearby reactor was undergoing trials, according to the Guardian.
The British Ministry of Defense said no one was harmed in the incident which took place in August 2012.
The campaign group, Nuclear Information Service by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), revealed the details.
A report partly blamed poor communication and “a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the hazards present when operating a reactor” for the incident.
“There was a prolonged and repeated failure of the ship’s staff to understand and control the radiological hazard that they were creating,” it said.
Other documents show a training team was allowed to visit a submarine in April 2012 and enter a radiation exclusion zone without being issued with dosimeters, which measure exposure to radiation.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) defense spokesman, Brendan O’Hara, said, “The MoD (Ministry of Defense) once again stands accused of a very poor approach to radiation safety at the Faslane base. When it comes to protecting our armed forces personnel, the contractors working at the base, as well as the wider community, nuclear safety must be paramount.
“The MoD must investigate and explain why these failings occur and lay out precisely what it is doing to get it sorted.”
Britain’s Trident program, due for replacement in 2020, was announced in July 1980. Since 1998, it has been the only British nuclear weapons system in service. Its stated purpose is to provide "the minimum effective nuclear deterrent as the ultimate means to deter the most extreme threat."
People opposed to a government plan for the renewal of Trident say modern threats like global terrorism and climate change mean the UK does not need a hugely costly renewal of nuclear weapons.
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