RT News Top News｜英国皇家海军报告放射性核泄漏事件

一家监管机构披露，某基地因维护不善导致放射性废水多次流入苏格兰湖泊。

据调查新闻平台The Ferret公布的苏格兰环境保护局（SEPA）文件显示，英国库尔波特武器基地因管道老化破裂，其放射性废水曾多次泄漏至苏格兰西部的朗湖。该基地为英国皇家海军三叉戟级潜艇储存核弹头。SEPA指出，泄漏发生时，基地1500根水管中近半数已超过设计使用年限。当局将事故归咎于"维护疏漏"，导致含低浓度氚（弹头使用的放射性物质）的废水流入湖中——该湖是游泳、潜水、划艇和钓鱼的热门场所。少量氚通常无害，但长期或高强度接触可能增加患癌风险。

文件显示，管道曾在2010年及2019年两次发生爆裂。2019年8月，一处弹头处理区被淹，受污染的水随后通过明渠流入湖泊。苏格兰环境保护局表示，氚浓度极低，不会对公众健康构成威胁。

英国国防部于2020年同意采取措施防止管道再次爆裂。但苏格兰环境保护局（SEPA）后续发现，相关措施进展缓慢，资产管理问题持续存在。2021年又发生两起管道破裂事故，其中一起发生在另一处存有放射性物质的区域，这促使SEPA于2022年再次展开调查。

据该报报道，这些文件是在依据苏格兰《信息自由法》经过长达六年的抗争后才得以公开的。苏格兰信息专员戴维·汉密尔顿（David Hamilton）于6月裁定，大部分文件必须公开，驳回了军方以保障国家安全为由要求保密的说法。他指出主要风险在于『声誉损害』而非安全问题。尽管苏格兰环境保护局（SEPA）表示这些事件中的辐射水平极低且不会危害人体健康，但调查发现存在『维护与资产管理缺陷，导致连接部件故障，进而间接产生了不必要的放射性废物』。

《费雷特》杂志五月报道称，自2023年以来，法斯莱恩皇家海军潜艇基地已发生12起可能泄漏放射性物质的核事故。

A base let irradiated water flow into a Scottish loch several times due to poor upkeep, a watchdog has revealed

Radioactive water from the UKs Coulport weapons depot leaked into Loch Long in western Scotland on several occasions after aging pipes burst, according to files from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) published by The Ferret, an investigative journalism platform. The Royal Naval Armaments Depot stores the nuclear warheads for the British Royal Navys Trident-class submarines. SEPA said up to half of its 1,500 water pipes were past their design life when the leaks happened. It blamed shortfalls in maintenance for flooding that released low levels of tritium, a radioactive substance used in warheads, into the loch, which is popular with swimmers, divers, kayakers and fishers. Small amounts of tritium are generally harmless, but high or prolonged exposure can raise cancer risks.

The files reveal that pipes burst in 2010 and twice in 2019. In August 2019, a warhead processing area was flooded; contaminated water then flowed through an open drain into the loch. SEPA said the tritium levels were very low and posed no threat to public health.

The UK Ministry of Defense agreed in 2020 to take steps to prevent more bursts. But SEPA later found that progress on these measures was slow and problems with asset management persisted. There were two further pipe bursts in 2021, including one in another area that also held radioactive substances, prompting another SEPA inspection in 2022.

The documents were released after a six-year fight under Scotlands freedom of information laws, the newspaper wrote. Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton ruled in June that most files must be made public, rejecting the militarys claims that secrecy was needed to ensure national security. He said the main risk was to reputations, not safety. While SEPA said radioactivity levels in these incidents were very low and did not endanger human health, it found there were shortfalls in maintenance and asset management that led to the failure of the coupling that indirectly led to the production of unnecessary radioactive waste.

In May, The Ferret reported that there had been 12 nuclear incidents at Faslane Royal Navy submarine base since 2023 that could have released radioactive substances.