The future of the Trident refit complex at Devonport has recently been questioned. The Sunday Mail contacted the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate about what progress had been made. The NII said:
It is four or five years since the contract was awarded, and we're still awaiting the first substantial piece of safety information.
The NII has to approve detailed plans before construction begins. The delays are probably due to the major difficulty of trying to design a nuclear refuelling facility inside the city of Plymouth, with known geological problems, within recognised safety margins.
In a report in June 1998 the National Audit Office revealed that the refit complex was 29 months behind schedule and 156 million pounds over budget. The latest information suggests that there will be further delays and cost increases.
There has been some speculation that the work could end up going to the USA. The initial plan had been for the refits to be carried out at Rosyth in Scotland and millions had already been spent preparing a site. The Rosyth option has been firmly ruled out. If Devonport also becomes impossible, the USA may be the only option. The Ministry of Defence have denied that they are considering sending the boats to America.
Former Defence Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said:
It's not very impressive work by the Ministry of Defence. It sounds like a cock-up.
Liberal Democrat MP, Menzies Campbell said:
This is an appalling scandal and I will be raising it with the committee.
The first Trident nuclear submarine, Vanguard, was originally planned to go into refit by 2000. This has now been put back until at least January 2002. One effect of this has been that the programme of work required during a mid-term maintenance period on Vanbuard at Faslane has increased.