The Daily Telegraph recently wrote about Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones’ statement that Trident would receive ‘more than a welcome’ in Wales if it was to be expelled from an independent Scotland. See the full piece here: Could the Trident nuclear fleet soon be heading south?.
Unfortunately the piece could have done with a little more research! Here’s a response letter I wrote to the article:
David Hughes’ article (‘Could the Trident nuclear fleet soon be heading south?’ 3rd July) could do with a little fact-checking.
Indeed, the Ministry of Defence itself does not agree with Hughes’ statement that Milford Haven is “already home to oil refineries and gas storage tanks so a few nuclear warheads will barely be noticed.”
In 1963, the MoD investigated potential sites for Polaris, Trident’s predecessor. Amongst the locations looked at was Milford Haven – which was found untenable due to the presence of one large oil refinery. The MoD concluded that Polaris and the refinery were incompatible on safety grounds and that the oil terminal would have to be closed if the site were to be used.
Today this same argument has even greater force. Milford Haven now has two oil refineries, two gas terminals and further oil and gas storage tanks, which would make it impossible to locate Trident submarines and nuclear warheads there without closing all of these facilities down – with all of the job losses which this would entail.
Carwyn Jones’ suggestion that Trident would be an economic boost to the area came crashing down when it became apparent that this would realistically mean axeing more jobs than would be created! Presumably that’s one of the reasons why he has so quickly distanced himself from the comments.
“Sorted”? I don’t think so.
Kate Hudson
General Secretary
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament