HMS Vigilant, one of the Royal Navy's Trident nuclear weapon submarines, has conducted the first UK test firing of an unarmed Trident D5 ballistic missile for three years in the Atlantic Ocean following post-refit sea trials.
Vanguard latest news
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NIS Update: March 2012
HMS VENGEANCE ENTERS DEVONPORT FOR REFIT
Babcock International Group has been awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence for a £350 million three-and-a-half year refit of the Trident submarine HMS Vengeance at the Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth.
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NIS Update: February 2012
SAFETY REPORT REVEALS WIDESPREAD SAFETY FLAWS AT CLYDE SUBMARINE BASE
Significant safety shortfalls continue to dog the Clyde submarine base, where the UK's nuclear weapons and submarines are based, according to a Ministry of Defence (MoD) safety report released to the Sunday Herald newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act.
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NIS Update: November – December 2011
TRIDENT VALUE FOR MONEY REVIEW PUBLISHED IN RESPONSE TO FOI REQUEST
A redacted copy of Trident Value For Money Review documents has recently been released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request made by Greenpeace UK. The review took place in 2010 as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review process but has never been officially published by the government. -
NIS Update: May 2011
ADVISORY COMMITTEE REJECTS LINKS BETWEEN NUCLEAR PLANTS AND LEUKEMIA
A government advisory committee on radiation and health has concluded that there is no significant evidence of an association between the risk of childhood leukaemia and living in proximity to a nuclear power station.
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Navy’s submarine reactors do not meet civilian safety standards
The nuclear reactors which power the Royal Navy's fleet of submarines do not meet civilian standards of safety according to secret documents released to the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament under the Freedom of Information Act.
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The case against CASD
Events organised by the Global Strategy Forum are always worth attending, and the Forum's recent lunchtime seminar on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control was definitely on my 'must go' list. With former Defence Secretaries Des Browne (now Lord Browne of Ladyton) and Sir Malcolm Rifkind discussing the question 'Can we really count down to zero', the meeting certainly promised the fresh thinking and active debate that the Forum was set up to provide.
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Delay to Trident replacement programme and cuts in nuclear warhead numbers announced in Strategic Defence and Security Review
- Defence spending to fall by 8% in real terms.
- Life of current Trident submarines to be extended.
- Stockpile of operational nuclear weapons to be reduced from less than 160 to less than 120.
- No cuts to troop numbers in Afghanistan.
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NIS Update: June 2010
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Hansard on AWE and Trident Replacement, 20th April, 2009
20 Apr 2009 : Column 58W AWE Management
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether (a) public-private partnership and (b) private finance initiative arrangements may be put in place under the AWE Aldermaston management contract. [269710]
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Hansard on the proposed Enriched Uranium Facility and Hydrodynamics Facility at AWE Aldermaston
30 Mar 2009 : Column 887W
AWE Aldermaston
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Nuclear reactor being dismantled in Devonport
A MASSIVE section of the nuclear reactor from HMS Vanguard is secretly being dismantled in Devonport, but the Ministry of Defence has insisted the project is safe. A massive section of the reactor from HMS Vanguard – which was refitted and refuelled at Devonport dockyard between 2002 and 2004 – is being dismantled at the city dockyard. Royal Navy sources have said it was the first time a submarine reactor had been cut up in the UK.