§ Ms. GordonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will outline the plans prepared for the possibility of a naval accident on the Thames, in particular accidents which may affect vessels carrying nuclear weapons;
474W(2) what special steps he takes to reassure people living in London, particularly by the Thames, in relation to the safety implications of the mooring at Greenwich or HMS Belfast of naval ships carrying nuclear weapons.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonIt has been the policy of successive British Governments neither to confirm nor to deny the presence of nuclear weapons on HM ships. There are, however, detailed contingency plans for dealing with the extremely remote possibility of an accident involving the release of radioactive material from a weapon while in the custody of the Royal Navy, and these include plans to deal with such an accident on board a warship. The plans involve similar organisational arrangements to those which would apply in the event of an accident involving a naval nuclear propulsion reactor, and are designed to enable the organisations concerned to cope with the rather different technical problems that would be faced in a weapons accident.