§ Mr. Home RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the decommissioned nuclear-powered vessels in the ownership of his Department, giving the location of each and the cost of any work undertaken on each vessel since decommissioning; and what are his plans for the disposal of these vessels. [19510]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThe location of each nuclear-powered submarine that has left service is as follows, with the approximate costs, where available, of undertaking the defuelling, de-equipping and lay-up preparation—DDLP. In addition to DDLP costs, the average annual maintenance cost of storing a decommissioned nuclear-powered submarine afloat is some £50,000. A docking of each submarine is also carried out every 10 years at an approximate cost of £3 million per submarine. So far, only Dreadnought has undergone a 10-yearly docking. The policy for final disposal is still under consideration.
Submarine Location DDLP cost £ million HMS Dreadnought Rosyth 1— HMS Warspite Devonport 11.3 HMS Churchill Rosyth 11.2 HMS Conqueror Devonport 10.6 HMS Swiftsure Rosyth 11.5 HMS Courageous Devonport 10.8 HMS Revenge Rosyth 18.7 HMS Valiant Devonport 2— HMS Resolution Rosyth 2— HMS Renown Rosyth 2— 1 It is not possible to provide costs of the decommissioning of HMS Dreadnought, which was the first nuclear submarine to be withdrawn from service in 1982; the information, insofar as it may be available, could be provided only at disproportionate cost. 2 HMS Valiant, HMS Resolution and HMS Renown have not yet completed their DDLP.