A report by the National Audit Office shows that the cost of the Trident refit facility have risen by 156 million pounds and that the project is 29 months behind schedule.
It had originally been proposed that refitting of the submarines would be carried out at the Rosyth dockyard in Scotland. However the order was switched to Devonport dockyard in the South of England. At the time it was argued that the Devonport bid was cheaper, but the costs have since risen.
he refit facility will be used to remove the fuel core from the reactor on a submarine and replace it with a new fuel core. This is a potentially dangerous nuclear activity. Devonport dockyard is in the town of Plymouth and thousands of people live close to the proposed facility. This ought to have been enough to block the development completely, nevertheless it appears to be going ahead. The requirement to meet safety criteria relating to possible earthquakes has affected the plans. Not only do the new facilitities have to comply with these criteria, but older buildings on the site either have to be strengthened or demolished.
The first Trident submarine, HMS Vanguard, had been scheduled to go into refit in 2000, but this had been put back to 2002.