British nuclear subs repeatedly leaked radioactive material

British nuclear subs repeatedly leaked radioactive material

rawstory.com

The British Ministry of Defense caused shock on Monday when it disclosed, in response to a Freedom of Information request, that nuclear submarines at its Faslane base have leaked radioactive material at least eight times in the last decade.

"The worst breaches include three leaks of radioactive coolant from nuclear submarines in 2004, 2007 and 2008 into the Firth of Clyde, while last year a radioactive waste plant manager was replaced," reported the Guardian. "It emerged he had no qualifications in radioactive waste management."

"The repeated safety breaches, which have been revealed in documents released to Channel 4 News, are so serious that the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has warned that it would consider closing the base down if it had the legal powers to do so."

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[edit on 26-4-2009 by baseball101]

Wow ... i find this very interesting and thought provoking ... i'm not surprised that they've held it back for so long ... it must have definitely been shocking for people who might be in the surrounding area fishing/swimming? ... i don't know this is kind of scary, just makes me wonder how often this happens off the coasts of the us ....

what are your thoughts?

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by baseball101
what are your thoughts?

Speaking as a former nuclear submariner, I doubt there was much of a risk. It's not like three mile island, most of the typical discharge waste like from the primary sample sink etc are considered low level. But the Scottish EPA should be on Faslane's ass if they're not following proper radcon procedures.

reply to post by Schaden


I would think that any type of dangerous radiation leak would be alarming. Be it small or large.

Originally posted by Tentickles
I would think that any type of dangerous radiation leak would be alarming. Be it small or large.

Yeah but none of the sources describe it as a "dangerous" leak.

The honest truth is you could drink a glass of the leaked contaminated water, and it wouldn't kill you. It was likely not even dangerous enough to give mild radiation poisoning.

Originally posted by Schaden

Originally posted by Tentickles
I would think that any type of dangerous radiation leak would be alarming. Be it small or large.

Yeah but none of the sources describe it as a "dangerous" leak.

The honest truth is you could drink a glass of the leaked contaminated water, and it wouldn't kill you. It was likely not even dangerous enough to give mild radiation poisoning.

Ships have been using CRAM systems for years which fire vast quantities of projectiles at a single burst - these are deplete uranium - the ocean is filled with this stuff 9when I say filled theres obviously still some places that aren't quite full yet, so its still deep enough to go swimming and stuf.....)...but seriously true.
Again "Wired for War". PEter Singer.