Independent nuclear engineer John Large said:
"If this lift was holding a Vanguard nuclear submarine and just one of the many complex systems failed, you've got problems. This could potentially cause a radioactive release on the Clyde. If this was a civilian nuclear power station there would be an independent regulator, but at Faslane the MoD act as police, judge and jury. It's surprising these repairs have been left so late. It seems there has been an awful mistake"
The Sunday Mail quoted Navy chiefs as saying that they were trying to fix the computer for the shiplift. An MoD spokesmen said that they hoped to have the system Year 2000 compliant by the end of the year, but that they would use the shiplift before then if they had to.
The structure has been plagued with problems since it was built. The siesmic criteria to which the shiplift was designed fall below current nuclear safety standards, this has prevented the building being given through life safety clearance. Instead authorisation is given on a case by case basis whenever the MoD want to use it. In April this year an article in the local Helensburgh Advertiser suggested that there the structure was slowly sinking. The article also said that it had not been used between Summer 1998 and Spring 1999.
The latest report in the Sunday Mail says that the shiplift has not been used for the last 3 months.
Background information on this history of the shiplifts problems is in Scottish CNDs report on the Safety of Trident:
www.cndscot.dial.pipex.com/trisaf/ch3.htm