§ Mrs. Ann CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the nature, time scale and cost of repairing the defect which was discovered on HMS Sceptre, HMS Sovereign and HMS Superb. [24913]
§ Mr. IngramIndications of small original fabrication imperfections discovered during routine ultrasonic inspection of the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) in HMS 825W Sceptre identified the need for more detailed analysis to support the existing safety case for reactor plant operation. Inspection of Sceptre will be undertaken as part of her refit at Rosyth Dockyard. While imperfections have not been identified in either Sovereign or Superb, they have similar Reactor Pressure Vessel design. An acceptable safety case was produced for Superb and she has now returned to operations, pending further inspection later this year. Precautionary inspection of Sovereign is now taking place during her on-going maintenance at Clyde Submarine Base. The time scale and cost of work to return Sceptre and Sovereign to operations is subject to
Location/proportion Naval Service Army RAF Grand total Grand total 41,840 109,775 53,211 204,826 United Kingdom (84 per cent.) 35,317 77,682 47,535 160,543 Overseas total (16 per cent.) 6,523 32,093 5,676 44,292 Overseas split by location: Continental Europe 3,069 15,465 1,801 20,335 Cyprus 6 2,460 1,094 3,560 Gibraltar 223 65 112 400 Other Mediterranean, Near East and Gulf 1,514 5,921 1,369 8,804 Far East 15 243 20 278 Other locations 1,696 7,939 1,280 10,915 Source:
DASA (Tri-Service)