FURTHER DETAIL ANNOUNCED OF PROPOSALS FOR STORAGE OF NUCLEAR WASTE FROM REDUNDANT SUBMARINES

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 30th Sep 2003

Ministry of Defence Procurement Minister Lord Bach has written to Far North MP John Thurso to clarify details regarding the bid by Davenport Royal Dockyard Limited for managing the radioactive wastes from decommissioned nuclear submarines and the possibility of storage of the wastes at Vulcan or Dounreay.

Responding to the Minister's letter, John Thurso said:

"This is an important new detail which the Minister has announced. I have already welcomed the Government's commitment to a full and fair public consultation. For that process to be meaningful, the full details of each bid must be put into the public domain. It is regrettable that this point was not included in the original announcement.

"The commitment that no storage is contemplated at Nigg is welcome. That would have been wholly inappropriate. The possibility of waste storage at Dounreay or Vulcan must depend on the national strategy for waste which is currently out for consultation. It would be inconceivable to agree a long term strategy for the submarine cores before either the national or the Dounreay strategy for the storage of waste had been determined."

Attached are copies of the MOD letters to John Thurso, MP

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

OLD WAR OFFICE BUILDING

WHITEHALL LONDON SW1A 2EU

Telephone 0207218 8621 (Direct Dialling)

020 7218 9000 (Switchboard)

Fax 020 7218 6625

MINISTER FOR

DEFENCE PROCUREMENT

FROM: LORD BACH

D/MIN(DF)IWB/9/1I1

26 September 2003

On 8 September, I wrote regarding plans to announce the start of a further round of public consultation on outline proposals put forward by industry for the land storage of the radioactive waste from redundant nuclear powered submarines.

At the briefing, which you attended on the 11 September, I gave details of the sites proposed by industry. Since then, Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited have clarified their proposal. It is their intention to approach the MOD to explore the possibility of including an extension to the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE) site at Dounreay in Caithness as a possible storage location. This proposal will be included in the consultation exercise being run by Lancaster University.

While the Vulcan NRTE site is a MOD establishment situated on land leased from the UK Atomic Energy Authority, I would like to stress that MOD has had no involvement in putting together the proposal. We continue to have an open mind on the final land storage solution and sites, and the Vulcan proposal will be evaluated fully, along with the others we have received and, indeed, with any further proposals that may yet emerge.

I would also like to emphasise that no decisions will be made on the location of any work or subsequent storage of waste for around three years and, in line with our commitment to openness and transparency, there will be further public consultation before we reach that stage.

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

OLD WAR OFFICE BUILDING

WHITEHALL LONDON SW1A 2EU

Telephone 020 7218 6621 (Direct Dialling)

020 7218 9000 (Switchboard)

Fax 020 7218 6625

MINISTER FOR

DEFENCE PROCUREMENT

D/Min(DP)JWB/9/1/1

30 September 2003

You will recall that on 11th September Lord Bach initiated a further round of public consultation on outline proposals from industry for the land storage of radioactive waste from redundant nuclear submarines. Your Commons secretary called me this afternoon with a question about the nature of the work that might be conducted at Nigg were that proposal to be taken forward. I am writing to confirm what I told her over the 'phone.

The work that it is envisaged might be conducted at Nigg is limited to the cutting up of the decommissioned nuclear submarines. As I think was made clear at the meeting that you attended with Lord Bach on 11th September, no radioactive material would be stored there.

Ben Palmer OBE Private Secretary