Belfast could offer home for Britain's nuclear cast-offs

national | miscellaneous | news report

Monday April 22, 2002 19:41

by publo

I swear there'll be ruckus if they try and push something like this through.

By Diarmaid Fleming and Seán Mac Cárthaigh
Dublin, Ireland, 21 April, 2002

Pity Britain's poor Ministry of Defence. It has 12 rusting submarines from the 1960s, each one the length of Croke Park and weighing 8,000 tonnes, and it has nowhere to dump them. Oh, and they all have nuclear engines and will be radioactive for the next 150,000 years.

The MoD said last week it had made a decision to get them out of the water and store them on land. But where? A spokesman said it was "too early to speculate" but that sites would "begin to emerge" later this year.

But for Dr John Large, an expert on nuclear submarines and the man who raised the Russian Kursk sub, one site has already emerged: Harland & Wolff in Belfast.

"The MoD will be looking for a fully equipped dockyard with a big dry dock facility and a highly skilled workforce, which is why they'd look very seriously at Harland & Wolff, which has all of these elements," he said.

There is now a significant shortage of dockyards in Britain, but Belfast has the capacity because of a fall-off in shipping orders, and has the space and the heavy lifting yards.

A government spokesman last night declined to speculate on the prospect of sharing the island with 12 radioactive hulks. However, he stressed that Ireland was "an anti-nuclear country . . . the government continues to make a concerted effort to close down Sellafield and we are opposed to the nuclear industry".

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Comments (3 of 3)

A great opportunity

by common sense

Mon Apr 22, 2002 20:09

very far from belfast ;-)

Why do people dismiss this out of hand? This is an opportunity to provide work for a large number of people who may otherwise be made redundant, there will undoubtably be storage fees paid which will be a source of income for many generations to come and since we are taking their nuclear crap already at least this way there is a profit in it. (maybe the norwegians would like to take some of them, they also have shipyards and are forever bitching about gaining noting from british nuclear waste as well)

Common sense.....

by 8den

Mon Apr 22, 2002 22:32

Lets look at why this isn't...

It's the MOD those secrecy loving cats who always let you know when there might be a "teeny weany" health risk. Honest, totally impartial and looking out for your best interest.

In no way did they cover up accidents in Sellafield in the 50s.

As for the jobs, Cumberia is held in a stranglehold by BNFL, they've ensured that the area can't protest againist Sellafield because they'd be ensuring no career for themselves. Jobs but at what cost?

Finally it's 6 nuclear shagging submarines, huge lukemeia clusters in waiting.

And the Norwegians no actually they've been complaining that they've been getting too much from BNFL, polluted seas for example.

Jobs Boom.

by Tim Hourigan

Mon Apr 22, 2002 23:06

Crap I really thought this was someone pulling our legs and waiting or us all to rant on before throwing in the punchline. But it's there.
By the way, please put in FULL weblinks next time.

http://www.thepost.ie/story.jsp?list=businesspost&rightnav=/common/navs/right/sponsorsnav.jsp&advert=/common/adverts/top/homepage.htm&title=Sunday+Paper&story=WCContent;id-43968

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I can see how the British Government could make this into a jobs boom. think of the jobs they could create by investing billions in a huge lead-lined dry dock on the Thames close to the Ministry of Defence or Westminster!

Loads of jobs, and symbols of the British government's nuclear pride, military strength (and contempt for ordinary British citizens)

Again, like Sellafield, which could not be much further north without being in Scotland, and Faslane nuclear submarine base outside Glasgow, all the dirty crap is kept far, far from the 'home counties'.

As many, many people have said.
If they think it's so safe, why isn't it in London?

No way can we let these things near our homes.
If we put some of them near Blair's house, I think he'd consider not making any new ones (as well as moving house immediately).

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Belfast could offer home for Britain's nuclear cast-offs

Comments (3 of 3)