New report of HMS Tireless near meltdown

A second newspaper report has indicated that the accident on HMS Tireless came close to a meltdown. This had first been said in an article in the Guardian in October. On 19th November the Sunday Times had a similar story quoting a Royal Navy source saying that the submarine came within "a few minutes" of a reactor meltdown in May.

The crew of the submarine did not realise how close they had come to a disaster until very recently. The source said:

"The on-board safety systems worked exactly as they were intended to, thank God. People were extremely alarmed to realise what could have happened had they not. ... The problem was that the place where the leak happened could not be isolated. Once the fault had ripped through, it could not be isolated from the rest of the system".

Iberianews has said there are reports in Gibraltar that the alert sailor who raised the alarm has been highly commended for his rapid reactor which averted a disaster.

Meanwhile the Environmental Safety Group in Gibraltar held a meeting last week which was addressed by nuclear expert Dr Frank Barnaby and emergency planning expert Joe Bishop. Dr Barnaby highlighted the risks of repairing the submarine in Gibraltar and Mr Bishop illustrated the inadequacies of the Gibraltar Public Safety Scheme.

Commenting on the Sunday Times story, Janet Howatt from Gibraltar said:

"We never wanted this here and we want it out now."