Radioactive water from UK’s nuclear leaks into Loch Long in western Scotland
(MENAFN) Radioactive water leaked several times from the UK’s Coulport weapons depot into Loch Long, located in western Scotland, due to aging and poorly maintained pipes, according to documents released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). These files were published by an investigative journalism platform after years of legal battles for transparency.
The Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport stores nuclear warheads for Britain’s Trident submarines. SEPA reported that nearly half of the depot’s 1,500 water pipes had exceeded their expected lifespan when the leaks occurred. The agency attributed the flooding that caused releases of low levels of tritium—a radioactive element used in warheads—to “shortfalls in maintenance.” Loch Long, where the leaks happened, is popular for recreational activities such as swimming, diving, kayaking, and fishing. Although small amounts of tritium are generally considered safe, extended or high-level exposure can increase cancer risk.
Incidents of pipe bursts were recorded in 2010 and twice in 2019. In one 2019 event, a warhead processing area was flooded, and contaminated water ran through an open drain into the loch. SEPA emphasized that tritium concentrations were very low and did not pose a public health risk.
The Ministry of Defense committed in 2020 to addressing the pipe failures, but SEPA found progress to be slow, and problems with asset management continued. Additional pipe bursts occurred in 2021, including one in a zone containing other radioactive materials, which led to another SEPA inspection in 2022.
The release of these documents came after a six-year legal struggle under Scotland’s freedom of information laws. The Scottish Information Commissioner ruled that most of the files must be made public, dismissing military arguments that disclosure would threaten national security. Instead, he noted that the main concern was damage to “reputations” rather than safety. While SEPA confirmed that radiation levels from these leaks were very low and did not threaten human health, it highlighted “shortfalls in maintenance and asset management” that
caused failures ultimately generating unnecessary radioactive waste.
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