NUCLEAR sites, King Charles’s childhood school and a famous battlefield were among nearly 1000 sites across Scotland which broke environmental rules in the past two years.
THE Ministry of Defence has been accused of trying to avoid responsibility for cleaning up a military nuclear site on the north coast of Scotland by making it “someone else’s problem”.
The Ferret can reveal that discussions to transfer ownership of Vulcan, a former submarine reactor testing site next to Dounreay in Caithness, to the UK and Scottish governments’ Nuclear Decommissioning Authority are at an advanced stage. The aim is to complete the deal in 2027-28.
But no decision has been taken on who will pay for the site’s multi-million-pound clean-up, including dismantling and disposing of two defunct, radioactive reactors. Unlike some civil nuclear sites, military sites do not have any funding set aside for decommissioning.
Campaigners are concerned that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) could escape paying for the pollution it has caused at Vulcan and other military sites. They are demanding transparency, and calling on the Scottish Government to block any “backroom transfer” that undermines Scotland’s interests.
The 26-strong UK group of nuclear-free local authorities is planning to raise the issue with UK nuclear minister, Lord Hunt, at a meeting on March 31. It will be urging him to extract a promise from the MoD to fully fund the decommissioning of Vulcan.
The MoD promised to deliver “value for taxpayers’ money” on the Vulcan clean-up. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said financing would be agreed with the UK Government “as part of the usual funding process”.
Construction work at Vulcan began in 1957, with one reactor operational from 1965 to 1984, and another from 1987 to 2015. They were used for onshore testing of five different designs of reactors to power the UK nuclear submarine fleet.
In 2012, the second Vulcan reactor suffered a mishap, and started leaking radioactivity into its cooling water. When the leak was disclosed two years later, it triggered a bitter argument between the Scottish and UK governments.
The then first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond (below), accused the Conservative UK defence minister, Philip Hammond, of deception. Hammond had told MPs that there had been “no measurable change in the radiation discharge” from Vulcan.
But an investigation by the Sunday Herald revealed that there had in fact been a tenfold rise in emissions of radioactive gases. Hammond subsequently corrected the official parliamentary record.
Discussions to transfer responsibility for cleaning up the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment from the MoD to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) began in 2022. Now, reports released by the Scottish Government under freedom of information law have disclosed how much progress has been made.
An update in January 2025 said that arrangements for the transfer were “moving ahead at full speed”. They would be put in place “during the financial year 2027-28”.
The update added: “The decommissioning of Vulcan and the optimised management of the waste will serve as the exemplar for decommissioning the UK’s nuclear submarines.”
There are seven defunct nuclear submarines awaiting decommissioning at Rosyth in Fife and a further 15 at Devonport in Plymouth. Other MoD nuclear sites in Scotland that may eventually need to be cleaned up are the Faslane nuclear submarine base and the Coulport nuclear weapons depot on the Clyde near Helensburgh.
The Scottish Government reports, however, have little to say about how the Vulcan clean-up will be paid for. According to another January 2025 update, a paper on “post-transfer funding options” was “being socialised” within the NDA – though it is unclear what this means.
The costs of decommissioning the more recent civil nuclear power stations, including Hunterston B in North Ayrshire and Torness in East Lothian, will be covered by the UK Government’s Nuclear Liabilities Fund. It has secured more than £20 billion from private power companies.
But there is no equivalent fund for cleaning up military nuclear sites. Uncertainty over how Vulcan’s decommissioning will be funded has triggered widespread fears that the MoD could be seeking to wriggle out of its responsibilities.
ALBA, the breakaway nationalist party launched in 2021 by former SNP leader, Salmond, is “deeply concerned” that the MoD may “offload” defence nuclear liabilities “without transparency or adherence to the polluter pays principle.”
The party’s national organiser, retired Royal Navy commodore Rob Thompson, said: “It is unacceptable for current and future Scottish taxpayers to bear billions in cleanup costs while the MoD evades responsibility.
“The Scottish Government must urgently clarify its due diligence processes, civil defence co-operation policy and use its veto to oppose any backroom transfer that undermines Scotland’s interests.”
The former Alba MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Neale Hanvey (below), pointed out that the MoD had “dragged its heels” since the 1990s on cleaning up radioactive pollution at Dalgety Bay in Fife. It was “deeply frustrating” that the MoD has “washed its hands” of any future liability at the site, he said.
Dr Richard Dixon, a veteran environmental campaigner and former director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, urged the MoD to pay for cleaning up Vulcan. “Nothing else would be acceptable,” he told The Ferret.
“It took the MoD years to admit liability for radioactive contamination at Dalgety Bay and years more to fund a clean up. I’m sure they would be delighted to make Vulcan someone else’s problem.”
He added: “The current UK Government wants to find cash to increase defence spending. Transferring future military decommissioning costs to the NDA would be more than convenient.”
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities highlighted reports in February that £2.8 billion given to the NDA by the UK Government to clean up the biggest and dirtiest nuclear site at Sellafield in Cumbria was “not enough”.
“We will be raising directly with nuclear minister Lord Hunt how important it is that he secures from his colleague, the defence secretary, a promise to fully finance decommissioning work at Vulcan,” said the group’s secretary, Richard Outram.
“It is our view that the principle that the polluter pays should apply equally to both the nuclear industry and the defence ministry.”
Pete Roche, a Scottish-based nuclear consultant and critic, was concerned that no money had been set aside to cover decommissioning military sites, especially given the pressures on the budget for cleaning up civil sites.
“The UK Government must increase the NDA’s budget sufficiently if it is expected to take on the MoD’s decommissioning work as well,” he said.
Tor Justad, chairperson of Highlands Against Nuclear Power (HANP), is a member of the Dounreay Stakeholder Group, which covers Vulcan. It was important that details of the transfer to the NDA were “clarified as soon as possible and that the full costs of returning the land to a brownfield site should be paid for by the MoD,” he said.
An MoD spokesperson said: “Transition work is progressing to transfer the Vulcan site from the MoD to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, while ensuring we deliver value for taxpayers’ money.”
The MoD was part of a team which was “working collaboratively” to deliver the transfer. The team engages with the Scottish Government, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and other regulators.
According to the MoD, there were still a number of “operational activities” which needed to be completed at the Vulcan site before the handover could be completed.
An NDA spokesperson said: “Funding for the decommissioning of Vulcan would be considered and agreed with the government as part of the usual funding process.
“We are responsible for the safe, secure and sustainable decommissioning of the UK’s legacy nuclear sites. As an arm’s-length body of government, we utilise our expertise in decommissioning and nuclear waste management to support the Government’s priorities and ambitions.”
The transfer of Vulcan will require approval from the Scottish Government. “We are aware of UK Government work to consider the transfer of the Vulcan site to the NDA for decommissioning including consideration of arrangements for funding,” said a Scottish Government spokesperson.
“We place great importance on the safe decommissioning of nuclear sites and are committed to the safe, secure and responsible management of radioactive waste with care for people and the environment.”
