Serious nuclear incidents at Faslane, Glasgow

[greyskiesgreysea]

Apparently there have been 2 category A serious nuclear incidents at Faslane Navy base near Glasgow in the last 2 years. The Ministry of Defence has been keeping these incidents quiet. Serious incidents mean that radiation has probably been released into the environment. There have been lots of Category B and C incidents as well, and other category A incidents in 2006-07. And those are the ones we now know about. There's something underneath the main article about radioactive water leaking into Loch Long when old pipes which were not maintained burst.
AIBU to think that If the government is this negligent, we'd be safer without a nuclear deterrent (which as I understand it can only be used with help from the USA in any event, which presumably reduces its deterrent effect)?

You might want to have a read of the Guardina article below...it was Coulport, it's far from ideal (obviously) but we're talking about very very low levels of Tritium.

" a nuclear deterrent (which as I understand it can only be used with help from the USA in any event, which presumably reduces its deterrent effect)?*

Depends what you mean by help..the US provides missile bodies from their stock, exchanged at intervals, selected at random..they then get fitted with UK warheads, go to sea on UK boats..so on a day to day the UK has control.and doesn't need US help.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/09/radioactive-water-bomb-base-scotland-leak-sea-files

I used to work for a local authority in the North West, and I recall about three years after Chernobyl, the council's senior engineer telling me that the reason a certain bridge was out of commission was because it's safety inspection couldn't be done until the specialist team with their hazmat gear were available. When I asked why that was and what was so dangerous, I was told the area was a radiation risk. People lived all around there and didn't know, and a team that would be there for a few hours on one day needed hazmat suits! Anyway, I was told that this was a result of the radioactive cloud passing over the area from Chernobyl. I looked at him and asked just how bloody stupid did he think I was, since the bridge was a couple of miles from Sellafield. So a radioactive cloud that had not left land based radiation in it's 1,600 mile journey from Chernobyl decided just to stop and have a rest two miles from Sellafield?

I think we would be terrified if we knew how much they don't tell us about these things.

@PhilippaGeorgiou
I am reminded that Terry Pratchett worked as press officer for CEGB ....
(from his wiki)
After various positions in journalism, in 1979 Pratchett became press officer for the South West Region of the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) in an area that contained three nuclear power stations.[b] He later joked that he had demonstrated "impeccable timing" by making this career change so soon after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania, US, and said he would "write a book about his experiences if he thought anyone would actually believe them".[25][26]

Sorry, I forgot to add the link. It's on Sky News with more detail now.

edit - for some reason it won't share the link.

Faslane is over an hour away from Glasgow, if that's considered near, I'm going to start telling people I live near Helensburgh. The bbc seem to forget that Scotland is more than just Glasgow and Edinburgh

@greyskiesgreysea There's a peace camp just outside faslane, if you're interested they probably have some more information on it on their website.

You are not being unreasonable no.

We clearly can’t be trusted with anything.

That said apparently cancer incidents are high in Jersey due to French nuclear leaks

France has a lot of nuclear power plants. Nuclear power is in theory very attractive, because it doesn't contribute to global warming. But it's so, so risky. Very recently, battles were raging around nuclear plants in Ukraine, and of course serious accidents happen (Chernobyl, Japan). In the context of incompetent governments and terrorism...

Factor in over 3000 nuclear tests above and below ground since 1945.

Factor in the impact on nuclear test veterans at test sites and the appalling way they've been treated.

Nuclear technology was the scariest genie to be let out if the bottle, and even Oppenheimer expressed regret.

Welcome to the mushroom club.

@PhilippaGeorgiou So a radioactive cloud that had not left land based radiation in it's 1,600 mile journey from Chernobyl decided just to stop and have a rest two miles from Sellafield?

Yes, but that's exactly what happened. I lived in Cumbria in 1986 and I can confirm that following the Chernobyl incident in Ukraine there were many, many 'hotspots' in Cumbria that couldn't be farmed for a couple of decades.

See this news item from twenty years later: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/content/articles/2006/04/26/chernobyl_look_north_feature.shtml

I remember the time clearly, the prevailing winds following Chernobyl were in our direction and the weather was very wet. A lot of radioactive material was dumped across our fells, and we couldn't move livestock.

So, yes, it's quite possible that this was one of the Chernobyl hotspots from 1986.

Yes it was Cumbria and no I still do not believe that. In fact at the time of Chernobyl the cloud went right above my head in much higher ground than this. Left nothing behind anywhere else. And people were checking. I don't think radiation is magnetic - they don't attract each other.

I accept that there may be contamination - nothing to prove from where though. Nobody was (at least publically) checking very carefully before that.

You must surely recall the incidents where radiation was detected before Chernobyl - Whitehaven was one where higher than average levels of radiation were detected in the sea, and, of course, the famous 1983 "Danger do not remove anything from the beach" signs?

Or..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0lne622kk7o
and a whole bunch of others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield#Incidents