Trident refit at Devonport Dockyard
Devonport Dockyard is where the Trident nuclear weapons submarines dock for a major maintenance programme. After about ten years of service, each of the four submarines arrives (unarmed) at the yard for a refit. As the Trident submarines are also nuclear powered, during this time the nuclear reactors are refuelled and a new reactor core is fitted. The old reactor core and spent fuel rods (all highly radioactive) are then transported to be stored at Sellafield.
Rolls Royce in Derby design and produce the reactors and reactor cores for these and Britain’s other nuclear powered submarines which also undergo refit at Devonport. During refit, the radioactive coolant water from the submarine's reactor is allowed to be discharged into the local river, the Tamar.
The company Babcock Marine runs Devonport Dockyard. It also services the Naval Base run by the Ministry of Defence next to the Dockyard and provides services for Rosyth naval dockyard and Faslane Naval Base where Trident submarines are based.

Obsolete nuclear powered submarines

Devonport Dockyard is also where eight obsolete nuclear powered submarines are being kept stored afloat. Plans are currently being hatched about what to do with them plus seven more obsolete submarines at Rosyth dockyard in Scotland, and the twelve submarines including Trident ones currently in service which will eventually be declared obsolete too. The problem is that the storage space at the two dockyards will be full by 2012, and any cutting up of the submarines (whose radioactive nuclear reactor compartments are the size of two double-decker buses) may release further poisonous radioactive discharges into the environment. Short term plans might mean nuclear waste from the submarines being stored at Devonport for many decades. Long-term plans for the waste to eventually end up in an enormous underground nuclear dump site elsewhere might not be viable. Such dumps have not yet been built anywhere in the world.

The radioactive risk

Devonport Dockyard is in the heart of Plymouth, which has a population of around 250,000 people. The Dockyard is close to the city centre and situated in an urban area minutes from homes and schools. The refit work and any proposal to cut up obsolete nuclear submarines there risks contaminating the local people and their environment with potentially harmful radioactivity. There have also been numerous accidents at the Dockyard further releasing radioactive discharge into the river.

CND calls for Trident to be scrapped and for no Trident replacement. We call on the government to pay heed to ever increasing local and national opposition and ensure that the city of Plymouth does not become a nuclear waste processing site or dump for obsolete nuclear powered submarines.

A city location is no place for handling radioactive waste in this manner and there is no guarantee that accidents will not occur. The government should make alternative investment into a regenerative strategy for the city, providing long-term sustainable job development; potential areas could include renewable energy projects like wave and wind power.


In November 2008 an investigation was launched after hundreds of litres of radioactive coolant spilled from a Devonport-based nuclear submarine.

The liquid escaped into the River Tamar after an incident involving HMS Trafalgar.

The Royal Navy confirmed up to 280 litres of water, likely to have been contaminated with tritium, poured from a burst hose as it was being pumped from the submarine.

The submarine was alongside at Devonport, after undergoing routine maintenance.

No-one was hurt in the incident and the vessel’s nuclear power plant was unaffected.

Previous reported radioactive spills at the dockyard include one in October 2005, when it was confirmed 10 litres of water leaked out as the main reactor circuit of HMS Victorious was being cleaned to reduce radiation.

Earlier the same year the Environment Agency had threatened legal action against former dockyard owners Devonport Management Limited (DML) after two spillages within the space of a week.

There were 10 nuclear leaks at the base between 1980 and 1998, during which 570 litres of radioactive liquid was lost. The worst incident was in 1985 when around 350 litres was spilled.