A written answer in Parliament has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively considering multiple locations for the UK’s permanent submarine dismantling and disposal capability.
Responding to Graeme Downie MP, defence minister Luke Pollard said the demonstrator vessel Swiftsure continues to be dismantled at Rosyth and remains on track to complete in 2026. He noted that “there are six further legacy submarines in Rosyth awaiting to enter the dismantling process.”
Those boats, alongside the 15 stored at Devonport, form the initial batch being processed under the Submarine Dismantling Project.
Pollard confirmed that the enduring solution will be delivered through a separate effort, the Submarine Disposal Capability Project, which is still in its concept phase. He stated that the department is “assessing options for the capability and its location with various sites under consideration within the UK,” adding that Parliament will be informed once a decision is ready.
This aligns with the practical pressures on the Defence Nuclear Enterprise. Rosyth can process only a small number of hulls at a time, while Devonport’s workload is dominated by defuelling, refit work and major safety driven upgrades. Both sites have finite regulatory and environmental headroom.
The broader SDP context helps explain the direction of travel as since 2013 the programme has been tasked with dealing with 27 retired submarines, removing radioactive and conventional waste safely and refining methods as it progresses. Swiftsure’s dismantling has already informed improved procedures, and the MoD reports that later boats will see faster and cheaper waste removal.
The Swiftsure project has proven the process, but the long term question remains open: where should the UK base a facility that will handle future decommissioned submarines on a rolling, multi decade basis. Pollard’s answer confirms that this decision is now in play.
They should put it somewhere in England that needs the jobs. They can tow all those old rusting nuclear submarines there too, I’m fed up living down wind from them. Rosyth was deemed not worthy for Trident refulling by John major’s government so they should find a nice Tory marginal seat or better yet Clacton which is apparently the poorest constituency in the UK.
These subs have been alongside rusting, in some cases for decades, at Portsmouth?
Is it only now that MoD is looking for a site for conducting disposal activities?
MoD is also still looking for sites for the 6 new ammunition factories.
Zero sense of urgency!
No nuclear submarines have been laid up at Portsmouth.
Morning Graham.
Kicking the can down the road.
Which, in a way, I can understand, given that the military is falling apart in places given the lack of money and mass, while much of our vast budget is spent on non military areas.
Which has been expanded by this government just like the last one.
I can see it now…”disposing of these Submarines is world class, agile, and keeps the UK people safe in an uncertain world.”
Or utter cobblers to that effect.
Yet another draw on the budget ignored by countless previous idiots.