Radioactive Water Leak Revealed at UK Nuclear Weapons Depot

DID Press: Guardian reported leak of radioactive water at Britain’s nuclear weapons storage facility.

The incident took place at the Royal Navy’s weapons depot in Coulport, where the nuclear warheads for four Vanguard-class submarines—armed with American Trident II (D5) ballistic missiles—are stored.

According to the report, citing the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), aging equipment has caused radioactive water to leak from the facility into Loch Long.

The leak involved a small amount of tritium, resulting from repeated ruptures in old pipes that had not been properly repaired.

The first pipe failure at Coulport occurred in 2010. Later, in 2019, two similar incidents took place, leading to a significant amount of water entering the storage site and then flowing through an open drain into Loch Long.

SEPA said that the level of radioactive material was very low and posed no risk to human health.

Despite the UK Ministry of Defence’s pledge to modernize the site’s infrastructure, two further similar incidents occurred in 2021.

The Guardian reports that SEPA and the Ministry of Defense deliberately kept these incidents hidden from the public for many years.