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Faslane to be home to UK's fleet of nuclear submarines

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Published Date: 07 May 2009
By ROSS LYDALL POLITICAL EDITOR
THE UK's entire fleet of nuclear submarines is to be based on the Clyde, the Royal Navy announced yesterday.
Around 1,000 extra personnel will be based in Faslane by around 2017 due to the decision, the Royal Navy said.

However, the SNP, which will see the move as a snub to its anti-nuclear stance, last night warned about the threat of nuclear safety bre
aches.

The announcement follows reports last month of a number of safety breaches at the base in recent years, including leaks of radioactive waste.

Angus Robertson, the SNP's defence spokesman, said: "The MoD has been found guilty of repeated nuclear safety breaches, and there will be concern at proposals to bring more nuclear submarines to Faslane.

"In all circumstances, we have an excellent workforce at Faslane, and the site has a strong future as a conventional base."

The decision to designate Faslane as the UK's submarine base was made as part of a shake-up by the Ministry of Defence that sees Portsmouth become the home to the new Type 45 destroyers and aircraft carriers, while Devonport naval base in Plymouth is downgraded.

Three Trafalgar-class submarines will transfer to Faslane from their Devonport base by 2017, following a review.

They will serve alongside the Vanguard-class submarines currently at Faslane and the new Astute-class boats currently under construction.

David Cairns, Labour MP for Inverclyde, said: "This is brilliant news for Scotland. It secures the future of Faslane and all the jobs and investment that go with that."

Willie Rennie, the Liberal Deomcrats' defence spokesman, added: "This further entrenches Scotland as a key part of the UK's defence. Transferring the submarines to Scotland means Faslane has a strong future."





Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 06 May 2009 9:13 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Nuclear defence
 
1

The Online Scot,

Scotland 06/05/2009 22:24:07
Far from being a home for these subs, the timescale for this means many will be due for decommissioning when they get here. These rusting hulks will be too old and dangerous to be moved and therefore Scotland will have become a graveyard for old nuclear subs.

There are many ways to help the Scottish economy, using us as a dumping ground for Nuclear weapons and ols nuclear subs, known to discharge harmfull waste into the Clyde, is not one we should be welcoming.

Labour MSP Jackie Bailie described this news as evidence of a "Union Dividend", Greenocks Labour MP David Cairns calls the news "brilliant".

If there were any doubt about the demise of Labour and their refusal to listen to the Scottish people then this decision surely removes it.
2

Mercutio,

FALKIRK 07/05/2009 00:21:55
The submarines based at Faslane are an integral part of UK defence policy and will be until the Westminster parliament says otherwise, or Scotland gains independence.
3

Edward,

07/05/2009 00:50:16
Labour must think we are that stupid to fall for this. Oh yes we are ging to be greatful for more leaky Nuclear subs going to be based in Faslane. Its going to secure 'thousands' of jobs,except there isnt actually the 11,000 civian jobs connected to Faslane!
Scotland becomes the dumping ground for aging Nuclear Subs. We also get the 'union dividend' ramed down our throats. The fact is, that even in anIdpendent Scotland Faslane would be the premier Naval port.
Actually thinking about it, in an Indpenden Scotland Faslane would have to expand to accomadate the surface vessels that would be base there.
The fact is Scotland only gets the crumbs from the unionist table
4

Edward,

07/05/2009 00:50:47
What the people of Plymouth think :
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/months-wait-naval-base-decision-jobs-safe/article-964064-detail/article.html
5

im brian and so is my wife,

edinburgh 07/05/2009 03:31:19
no job bob should go hang his head in shame,for wanting to pollute scottish waters with rust buckets of subs
6

W Smith,

Middle East 07/05/2009 03:36:42
When it comes to bogus arguements the SNP are the specialists:

1) War in Afghanistan is "illegal" - never mind the UN mandate. Its what Osama Saeed says that counts.

2) There is a "strength of feeling" in Scotland for the Palestinians. Poor Nicoala didn't see the "strength of feeling" at Ibrox for the British soldiers.

3) 'The Scots' want to kick out the British Army from Edinburgh Castle as the Union Jack is causing so much offense.

4) Salmonds CND communist friend Kate Hudson is taking credit for ending the Cold War.

Mr Salmond and his friend Galloway supported the Soviet Union knowing they were armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons.

Now Salmonds supporters, including Bill Wilson the communist, are trying to re-write recent history and tell us this isn't the case.
7

W Smith,

Middle East 07/05/2009 03:40:34
In my opinion, Mr Salmond is a fifth column Leftie who is always siding with Britain's enemies (communists and Jihadists).

Its getting really predictable now is it not?

If Lenin was alive he might call our First Minister a "useful idiot".

What't the bet he doesn't want the "full weight of the law to be applied" to the Lockerbie bomber??
8

HKLad,

07/05/2009 04:21:49
#4 Nice link

"So devonport gets the refits and keeps the skills. Portsmouth gets the ships. Rosyth gets the cxxp.
Result!"

9

donald,

glasgow 07/05/2009 04:54:42
How about an article listing all the former anti nuclear demonstrators with the old photie shoots of MPs, Prime Ministers and Cabinet members of a certain Party?
10

Indy Evolution,

Edinburgh 07/05/2009 07:54:15
I would urge everyone to watch this programme. The entire Scottish media are celebrating the rest of the nuclear subs coming up to the Clyde. But they are not telling the full story as usual:

Trident poisons Scotland - The Nuclear leaks at Faslane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMg7H-GMxjA

"Channel Four (27 April 2009) exposes the lethal ineptitude of the M.O.D at the Faslane nuclear base in Scotland.The civil nuclear authorities are powerless. Now we know that Gordon Brown and the Labour government plan to transfer all Trident nuclear submarines to Scotland - to Faslane. Our country is to be the sole base for these poisonous weapons of mass destruction. Only the SNP and an independent Scotland can save us from this madness. The Tories, Labour and the contemptible LibDems are solidly behind the nuclear policies, as is the Scottish media"
11

Auld Twa,

Edinburgh 07/05/2009 08:42:38
Decommissioning dates from Hansard 14 March 2005.
HMS Date
"Trenchant" 2017
"Talent" 2019
"Triumph" 2022
Looks like they have found a way of parking more rusting submarine hulks in Scotland.
Will the good news be that they will create more jobs when they join the others at Rosyth ?
12

For Scotlands Future,

Vote for the SNP 07/05/2009 08:52:19
#8
As you said. a "result" for Scotland, and another case of the "Union Dividend" coming to Scotland. In 2017, Scotland is due to become a nuclear graveyard, where the subs will be "too dangerous to move"

http://tinyurl.com/dnc6av
"Personnel at the base, situated on the eastern shore of Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, are supposed to treat radioactive waste and pump it into the nearby loch under controlled conditions, to limit impact on the environment."

More Nuclear subs, more likelihood of accidental spills, and more "treated" radioactive waste being dumped into Gairloch - IN ORDER TO LIMIT IT'S IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT.

Is that to limit it's impact on the ENGLISH environment??

http://tinyurl.com/dnc6av
13

For Scotlands Future,

Vote for a Nuclear Free Scotland 07/05/2009 09:01:47
More Westminster lies that the Toom Tabards in Scottish Labour and LibDems are willing to bend over and take.

The only increase in jobs will be with the security personnel required to stop the protesters tearing down the fences and destroying the b l o o d y place.

Oops - that makes me a terrorist.
14

Pavla,

Irvine 07/05/2009 09:33:15
This relocation is to remove the decommissioning and imminent anchoring of defunct rusting subs and support vessels from the south of England.Are we going to allow ourselves to become like the Sami people of the Kola peninsula whose whole environment is polluted by the Russians doing the same thing.Are we really saying a few questionable number of jobs linked to nuclear weapons are more important than the health of future generations and the safety of our environment?
15

Mèths,

07/05/2009 10:00:55
15

Naughty naughty!
16

person who's right,

Edinburgh 07/05/2009 10:10:25
Mercifully most people on this site appear to have a brain. Despite the fact that Labour (and, more surprisingly, the Lib Dems) appear to believe we’ve all been lobotomised.

Do they really think we’ll consider the parking of more nuclear materials in our lochs to be a ‘union dividend’?

Do they think we don’t understand that if we spent the £100 billion earmarked for Trident on schools, hospitals and renewable energy instead, we’d create many thousands more jobs than those servicing a submarine base?

Do they think we can’t spot this as (yet another) blatant politicised stunt aimed at undermining the SNP (when in fact it just acts a perfect recruiting sergeant for them)?

How the SNP must smile every time they see Jackie Baillie (representing Labour) on TV proclaiming that this is ‘great’.

I used to support Labour. Not any more.
17

cabbage on tayside,

07/05/2009 10:46:01
I watched last nights news on this story and was left in stiches at the response from Labour AKA Jackie Baillie. When the people of a country are of a mind to be nuclear free why would the politicians come up with a plan that flys in the face of public opinion. I may may be a tad cynical but are Scottish Labour already planning for the outcome of the next election. When they fail to be re elected do they then as one , voice that they were always for indepedence , and in droves defect to the SNP.
18

IainGlasgow,

07/05/2009 11:40:12
By 2017 the Trafalgar Class submarines will be on their last legs and at more risk of leaking radiation that ever before.

Never mind though it's only the Firth of Clyde. As long as no one in Devenport gets Leukemia then all is okay.

Thankfully we will have the opportunity to dissolve the union well before then.
19

IainGlasgow,

07/05/2009 11:49:06
If we can get enough people with boats together we can set up a blockade (French fishermen style) of the Gareloch entrance, that way the subs won't be able to get in. Something for CND to think about organising.
20

Tartan Viking,

07/05/2009 12:42:31
#23 Get it starter then.
21

Tartan Viking,

07/05/2009 12:42:54
That should be 'Get it started then'
22

Tartan Viking,

07/05/2009 12:44:10
#4. There should be an uprising about this.
23

Scotfree,

Erskine 07/05/2009 12:54:29
The placement of this illegal weapons system against the will of it’s parliament and people is cold hearted English imperialism at it’s most extreme. This places the short medium and long term safety and survival of the Scottish nation in mortal peril.
In the short tem we have the prospect of daily leakages from a submarine fleet coming to and end of its life with attendant pollution of the water supply, fishing and beaches around the Firth of Clyde.
In the medium term the placement of the entire fleet of end of life submarines will be followed by the demand to dump all the radioactive remnants of the submarines in Scotland.
Longer term it is the inevitable (probability measure 1) prospect of a major nuclear meltdown or explosion. Due to size constraints, the configuration of U235 to U238, fueling the engine in the nuclear submarines, is the opposite of civilian nuclear power plants and is, in effect, weapons grade material. So a nuclear engine on a submarine is as likely to explode, as it is to melt down. With the other nuclear and hydrogen bombs on board this runs the risk of a chain reaction resulting in the explosive energy of over 1000 Hiroshima’s’ a few miles from Glasgow, this would be the end of Scotland for all time. If this weren’t chilling enough the time of greatest risk to power plants is on startup and shutdown (each of the incidents at Windscale, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl were in this category), startup and shutdown of the nuclear submarines are all carried out at Faslane. Given the age and now increased number of submarines the risk increases again.
Given that the Navy exists for the benefit of it’s title holder (the “Royal” Navy), one might reasonably ask if such a prospect would be allowed to berth on the Thames next to Windsor Castle, and whether the dumping of nuclear waste would be permitted, without comment, into London’s water thoroughfare and water supply?

24

Tartan Viking,

07/05/2009 13:01:21
#4 & #8. "So Devonport gets the refits and keeps the skills. Portsmouth gets the ships. Rosyth gets the cr_ap.

Says it all really. Remember this the next time you vote and get rid of English imperialism.
25

connaughtboy,

stonehaven 07/05/2009 14:41:24
This is all just Labour spin. They won't be making the decision on this since they will have their bottoms firmly placed on opposition benches.
26

Pavla,

Irvine 07/05/2009 14:53:54
Isn't it very worrying there are only 29 posts on this scandal so far and the low priority given in reports in the media up here.I remember well the furore in South Ayrshire and Scotland as a whole when they were digging bore holes in the Carrick Hills to assess dumping nuclear waste.A campaign on that scale is needed here or have we now become so complacent and servile.
27

nabodican,

Rural Scotland 07/05/2009 15:52:45
Excellent news for Faslane and the whole Helensburgh area.
28

IainGlasgow,

07/05/2009 16:10:05
#30

People won't care in vast numbers until the whole of the West of Scotland is uninhabitable because of radioactive contamination. It is disgraceful that this is being spun as good news by the media and Labour MPs

Labour MSPs who voted in principle against nuclear weapons have been very silent on this issue. It is time for Iain Gray to support or oppose these submarines.
29

overton,

aberdeen 07/05/2009 17:17:53
Great news for Faslane and for Scotland.

My one reservation is that strategically, the Government would be better having 2 or 3 good bases for a defensive element such as our nuclear capability.
30

Jacqueline Hyde ,

On the shelf 07/05/2009 18:45:49
#4 & #8
It certainly doen't show much clarity of thought when they shift the Rosyth work to Devonport and then, after a few years, change their minds and send it to Faslane.

Should our nuclear arsenal really be in the hands of such inconsistent, woolly-minded numpties?
31

Fitba Krazy,

07/05/2009 20:49:32
And we are supposed to be that daft that we think they are doing us a favour?

This is a preposterous insult to the intelligence of those of us who live in Scotland and particularly those of us who live in the vicinity of these death machines.

They are obviously considered too dangerous to be located anywhere near London and I for one am not at all happy about this insulting and highly dangerous imposition on my doorstep. Only idiots would welcome this. Stick them on the Thames, or, better still, get rid of these monstrosities from the face of planet Earth. It's better sporting facilities that we require in this area, particularly on the Rosneath peninsula which has a dire lack of such.
32

im brian and so is my wife,

edinburgh 07/05/2009 21:18:05
labour in power =
Written Answers Friday 24 February 2006

Scottish Executive

Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, under the terms of the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill, proposals for nuclear power stations could be included in a future national planning framework.

Holding answer issued: 7 February 2006
(S2W-22610)


Malcolm Chisholm: The Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill does not prescribe the type of development which may be included in a future national planning framework. Any application by a power generation company for a nuclear power station would be determined by ministers under the terms of the Electricity Act 1989. The Executive’s position on the development of new nuclear power stations is stated in the Partnership Agreement – we will not support the further development of nuclear power stations while waste management issues remain unresolved.

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, under the terms of the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill, proposals for nuclear waste disposal facilities could be included in a future national planning framework.

Holding answer issued: 7 February 2006
(S2W-22611)


Malcolm Chisholm: The Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill does not prescribe the type of development which may be included in a future national planning framework. Any application for a new radioactive waste disposal facility would be determined under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 1997, as amended. Such determination would be in accordance with the procedures appropriate for the category of development into which the proposed facility fell, as assessed against any criteria set out in secondary legislation to define the thresholds for the hierarchy of developments.

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive which category of the hierarchy of developments set out in the Planning etc. (Scotland) B
33

im brian and so is my wife,

edinburgh 07/05/2009 21:25:15
cont Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what opportunities would exist under the terms of the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill for individuals to object to specific proposals contained in a future national planning framework.

Holding answer issued: 7 February 2006
(S2W-22613)


Malcolm Chisholm: National Developments set out in the National Planning Framework will be subject to public consultation at four stages. First, there will be extensive consultation around the drafting of the National Planning Framework, involving seminars across Scotland and a full public consultation on a draft document. Second, there will be extensive scrutiny by Parliament, including a new procedure to allow Parliament to express its views at the end of the process, with MSPs accountable to the electorate in the normal ways. Third, national developments which need to go through the planning system will need to be included in development plans, with all the existing and proposed new opportunities for public involvement available. Fourth, individual planning applications for projects identified as national developments will also be subject to all the existing and proposed new opportunities for public participation. The issue of whether an individual development is required will be settled in a national debate, focused on the Executive and Parliament: all other issues, including specific location and design will remain to be settled by processes at a local level.
labour in power at westmiden=rotten hulks for scotland
34

im brian and so is my wife,

edinburgh 07/05/2009 21:29:37
remember how all those labour MPS etc all marched against nuclear power/weapons during thatchers years in power
yet lo and behold ,they get back in and pick up the torch for the tory party,even going further by wanting even more powerful weapons than what we had in the 79-97 tory time in office
35

Tartan Viking,

07/05/2009 22:31:28
Who's for a campaign to dump nuclear waste in the Thames...near the Hooses of parliament?

Anybody up for this?

Say "Aye" now.
36

FerryPort,

09/05/2009 22:38:49
I'm sure GREENPEACE, along with the people of this country, will have a few things to say about moving this lot of toxic garbage to Scotland, or anywhere..

I say "Aye" to tartan viking, yet lets not contanimate anyone. It all comes home.

Decommission and dismantle on site.
This just another effin move by brown to keep us sub-servant. Jobs, the future, stability. Just a load of peish.

This Scottish a-whole has gone native and we don't want him or similar back.

The thieving idiots are spreading the muck.

"By whatever means
Let them believe they are under-achieving
That they are subsidised
Let them believe they have no wealth to go Independent"

This is just another attempt to put us in the swill. New order.
Was this, in any part, included in their manifesto? Because this is very important. We must be very careful not to allow this to slip below the radar. But me thinks it won't.

 

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