Activists are claiming the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has failed to keep the voter base informed following the reveal of over 750 incidents at nuclear bases in Scotland.

Letters between Defence Minister Stuart Andrew and Deidre Brock of the SNP revealed that 789 nuclear ‘safety events’ occurred at two Nuclear bases in Scotland between 2006 and 2018. The worst of these was a “Category A” incident in 2008 where a primary effluent barge overflowed, risking the release of radiation “in excess of IRR99 notification limits.”

A report on Trident’s cost published by the government in June 2018 put the costs of maintaining Trident at £2.2bn per year. This is roughly equivalent to £42m per week, or around £34 per person per year. These costs are similar to those of Statutory Maternity Pay, Income Support, Winter Fuel Payments and Carer’s Allowance, each of which it says cost around £2 – £2.8 billion per year.

Adrian Curtis, an activist with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has criticised the decision of the MoD to no longer publish their annual nuclear safety reports, in spite of the cost their programmes net the taxpayer, saying:

“The lack of transparency here should be really concerning for average people, especially the Scots.

“Here’s almost eight-hundred incidents happening in secret, essentially, until they’re exposed in a couple of letters. And that’s only the number we know of right now. I’d bet that if we probed a little deeper we’d find even more stuff like that.

“It’s this kind of secrecy that I think has more people supporting trident than there otherwise would be, just because they don’t know the extent of what’s going on. I think that if people were made aware of how far standards are falling, many more people would be supporting disarmament.”

Curtis went on to say that the cost of Trident to the tax payer was not worth the risks that it poses to national safety, especially with these recent revelations.

Nigel Huddleston, the MP for Mid Worcestershire and who also voted in favour of renewing Trident, says that the voters should be informed on such incidents but that they alone are not enough to justify dismantling the programme.

“It would be desirable, I think, for there to be more openness on these issues; not least because of the stakes should something go seriously wrong.

“But I think the fact most of these incidents never led to anything serious shows how robust our safety measures are. People should be aware they happen, but also that there are measures in place to keep people safe when they do.”