Nuclear submarine hits seabed

Scottish CND have expressed their alarm that a nuclear submarine hit the seabed off the West coast of Scotland two weeks ago. The MoD admitted that today that the incident took place on 19 November. The submarine then called in at Faslane and has since returned to its base at Devonport.

There is a major fault which has been found in the reactors of 5 of the 7 submarines of this type (Trafalgar class). This has already resulted in one accident which came close to a reactor meltdown - on HMS Tireless in the Mediterranean on 12 May this year. HMS Triumph was withdrawn from service for an inspection in October, but sailed back to sea within days and we are convinced that no physical inspection could have been carried out in this time scale.

"HMS Triumph should never have been at sea. There is a serious design fault in the reactors of all the submarines of this type. This collision with the seabed could have triggered a series of events which could have had catastrophic consequences."

Said John Ainslie, Administrator, Scottish CND.