§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what responsibilities have been vested in(a) Devonport Management Ltd. and (b) Babcock Thorn for the longer-term management of laid-up nuclear powered submarines; for how long it is intended that laid-up nuclear submarine boats will be stored afloat; what has been the cost to date for the preparation of each boat in 1183W an environmentally fit state for storage afloat; and which body is responsible for submitting and maintaining the nuclear safety case for such nuclear submarines withdrawn from operational service;
(2) whether environmental and safety cases for the storage afloat of nuclear submarines withdrawn from operational service have been submitted for approval to the nuclear installations inspectorate.
§ Mr. FreemanResponsibility for decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines rests with my Department; contracts are placed with the dockyard contractors when necessary in relation to the maintenance of the submarines. Storage afloat of decommissioned nuclear submarines is an interim policy pending national decisions on a final disposal route, the timing of which is still under consideration. The approximate costs of undertaking the defuelling, de-equipping and lay-up preparation process for those nuclear-powered submarines which have been taken out of service to date are as follows:
Submarine DDLP £ million HMS Swiftsure 11.5 HMS Warspite 11.3 HMS Churchill 11.2 HMS Conqueror 10.6 HMS Courageous 10.8 HMS Revenge (SSBN) 18.7 HMS Valiant and HMS Resolution have not started their DDLP process yet.
Those costs do not include the costs of final disposal, the policy for which is still under consideration. It is also not possible to provide costs on the decommissioning of HMS Dreadnought, which was the first nuclear submarine to be withdrawn from service in 1982 and the information requested, insofar as it may be available, could be assembled only at disproportionate cost.
Since section 1 (1) (a) of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 specifically excludes nuclear reactors comprised in a means of transport from the provisions of the Act, there is no requirement to prepare environmental or safety cases to the NII. However, hazard analysis has been conducted at each dockyard, and the MOD and the relevant local authorities carry out regular surveys alongside, which confirm that the storage afloat of the decommissioned submarines presents no external radiological hazard.
§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give the number of vessels from the Royal Navy's surface fleet that spent a substantial part of their operational time in guarding nuclear submarines.
§ Mr. SoamesIt is not my Department's policy to comment on operational matters.