§ Mr. Alan SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions permission has been(a) granted, (b) deferred and (c) refused to lift submarines on the shiplift at Faslane; and if he will make a statement. [52167]
§ Mr. SpellarThe Clyde Naval Base Shiplift has been used to lift submarines on 15 occasions. Of these, 13 have been on VANGUARD Class SSBNs and 2 on SSNs. No planned or unplanned lifts have been refused permission. The shiplift returned to operational use in June 1998 having been withdrawn from service from October 1997 to March 1998 to allow modification to the platform rails. Two dockings planned in this period were deferred. Docking dates frequently change from a variety of reasons, not directly linked to the Shiplift. The docking programme is optimised for submarine operational commitments, for which SSBNs have the priority, the tasking of submarine maintenance and repair staff on other priority tasks, and the maintenance requirements of the shiplift.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the estimated cost of each of the Astute class submarines currently on order. [53760]
714W
§ Mr. George RobertsonThe total cost of procuring the first three Astute Class submarines is expected to be around £2 billion. This includes design, build and some in-service support as a package.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement on his Department's future plans for the storage of spent submarine reactor cores at BNFL Sellafield; [54080]
(2) what was the average running cost of transporting used submarine reactor cores in (a) 1986, (b) 1991 and (c) 1996. [54084]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonI will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the locations of each used submarine reactor core. [54096]
§ Mr. SpellarI will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how much his Department has spent to date on the new fuel transport flasks for the transport of submarine reactor cores; and what he estimates the total cost of this project will be; [54082]
(2) if he will make a statement on progress being made towards introducing the new fuel transport flasks for the transport of submarine reactor cores. [54083]
§ Mr. SpellarGood progress is being made towards introducing the new used core transport package flasks for the transport of spent submarine reactor cores at the end of 1998. Manufacture of the flasks is nearing completion and they will soon be tested before delivery. I am withholding the cost of the contract under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information relating to Third Party's commercial confidences.