HC Deb 28 January 1988 vol 126 cc307-8W
Mr. Gordon Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his plans for the siting of the four Polaris submarines once they are decommissioned.

Mr. Sainsbury

No Polaris are planned to be decommissioned for several years. No decisions have been taken on how they should be dealt with when they do.

Mr. Gordon Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence where he plans to store the nuclear waste that will arise from the decommissioning of the four Polaris submarines.

Mr. Sainsbury

Decommissioning of the Polaris submarines will not begin until the first of the Trident submarines is ready to enter service in the mid-1990s. Nuclear waste disposal issues will only arise over the reactor compartment and associated components, and will therefore be identical to those raised by the decommissioning of nuclear attack submarines. The first of these HMS Dreadnought, has already been safely defuelled, de-equipped and laid up. Small items categorised as low-level or intermediate-level waste will be removed, suitably packaged and disposed of by routes currently under investigation by UK Nirex Ltd. The ultimate disposal of the reactor compartments themselves is still under study in my Department.