CLYDE SUBMARINE BASE: Nuclear sites ‘set to flood’ due to climate change

The Faslane nuclear base on the Gareloch could be forced to shut down by increasing storms and floods caused by climate pollution, according to a new report.

The nearby Trident missile store at Coulport and the nuclear submarine graveyard at Rosyth, on the Forth, are also likely to be damaged by rising waters in the future, the report says, along with six other nuclear sites in England.

There is a “significant risk” to stockpiles of military radioactive waste from “climate-drive extreme weather”, the report warns. Government safety regulators have been “relatively complacent” about the risks in the past, it claims.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) denied it was complacent. The UK Government’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said flood protection at nuclear sites was “very high” and risks to nuclear safety “very low”.

‘Vulnerable’ nuclear infrastructure

The 38-page report has been written by Dr Paul Dorfman, a former MoD advisor who chairs the Nuclear Consulting Group think tank. “UK nuclear military bases are set to flood,” he concludes.

“Present UK coastal military nuclear infrastructure is profoundly vulnerable to flooding from sea level rise, storm intensity and storm surge, with inland nuclear facilities also facing inundation and flooding.”

By Rob Edwards in The Ferret

Share this: