THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) strategy on defuelling and dismantling old nuclear submarines has been slammed by MPs.
The Public Accounts Committee found that the MoD is costing the tax payer £30 million a year just to store the submarines in Rosyth and Devonport. It added it is reaching “crisis point” in terms of the space it has left.
The UK’s fleet of 20 nuclear submarines began to be retired in 1980, but all of these subs have still to be dismantled. Seven currently sit at the Rosyth dockyard in Fife.
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Committee member and West Fife MP Douglas Chapman said the dismantling “should have been done decades ago”.
He continued: “This has had a long-term consequences, such as costing the taxpayer an eye-watering sum to maintain them in storage.
“We must not look at this task as a lumbering chore, but as an opportunity to create jobs and take advantage of the skill set we have here in West Fife – where some of the subs are stored – and across the UK.”
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