HMS Vulcan nuclear reactor leak – the truth must out

Reacting to news in the Sunday Herald that the reactor at HMS Vulcan did leak radioactivity into the environment, Dr Richard Dixon, Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said:

“Philip Hammond has some very serious questions to answer. He categorically stated that no radioactivity was released to the environment, we now know that this is definitely not true. Either the MoD misled him or he misled the House of Commons. Either way some-one should be losing their job.

“The MoD have once again displayed their arrogant disregard for the public by waiting many months before informing their regulators that there was a problem. They compounded this by telling those regulators to keep the news a secret. It is hard to see how anyone can take assurances about nuclear safety from the MoD seriously when they clearly think it is fine to just keep quiet about the embarrassing bits.”

Commenting on the Scottish Government’s announcement that they will not allow old submarine reactor parts to be dumped at Chapelcross, Dr Dixon said:

“Good on the Scottish Government for rejecting the UK’s military nuclear waste. It is bad enough that Scotland has been home to nuclear weapons of mass destruction for decades, it would be an extra insult to have to store thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste from defunct nuclear subs. The UK Government would love to have it both ways but they control military spending so they should deal with the resulting nuclear nightmare they have created.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. Sunday Herald article: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/salmond-accuses-uk-defence-secretary-of-deception-over-dounreay-radioactive-leak.23642287

2. Friends of the Earth Scotland is:
* Scotland’s leading environmental campaigning organisation
* An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland
* Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 77 national member groups, and some 5,000 local activist groups – covering every continent.
www.foe-scotland.org.uk