In a parliamentary reply on 17th February the Defence Minister George Robertson said that the fuel core would shortly be loaded into the fourth Trident submarine, but refused to reveal how much it was costing:
"The loading of Vengeance's fuel core is scheduled to be completed during May 1998. I am withholding details of core costs under exemption 1 of the code of practice ..."
There has been speculation that Vengeance could be mothballed in the Defence Review. The revelation about loading the fuel core suggest that either:
(a) The government is continuing to spend millions of pounds on a vessel which is about to be mothballed.
or (b) They still intend to impose a fourth Trident submarine on the people of Scotland.