Hammond to unveil £1bn sub reactor deal

18 June 2012

A £1.1bn deal to develop next-generation reactors for the UK's nuclear deterrent submarines has been announced by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.

Hammond revealed that Rolls-Royce's Raynesway facility in Derby would undergo a £500m refurbishment programme, while £600m would be spent producing reactors for the replacement nuclear deterrent submarines and the seventh-in-class Astute class attack submarine. The move will safeguard or create some 300 jobs.

The successor submarines will be powered by Rolls-Royce's third generation Pressurised Water Reactor, or PWR3, after a decision by former Defence Secretary Liam Fox that PWR3 technology had a "better safety outlook" than alternative options..

Speaking on BBC's Sunday Politics, current Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: "What we're going to be announcing is a commitment to the major refurbishment of the plant at Rolls-Royce in Derby which builds these core reactors, not just for the nuclear deterrent submarines but also for our attack submarines, the Astute Class submarines.

"This is sustaining a sovereign capability in the UK and some very high-end technical skills in the UK for the next 40 or 50 years," he said.

"The government's policy is very clear. We're committed to maintaining a credible nuclear deterrent and we're placing orders now - we announced £350m a couple of weeks ago for the design work - for the long-lead items that will be necessary to deliver a successor to the Vanguard class submarines in the late 2020s.

"But the actual decision on whether to build them won't be taken until 2016 - what we're doing now is ordering the things we have to order now to give us that option."

The 2016 delay to the main gate decision was agreed as part of the government's coalition agreement, and allows time for Liberal Democrat Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey to complete a Cabinet Office review of alternative nuclear deterrent options, which is due to report to the Prime Minister later this year.

Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell said the announcement did not affect or negate the review process.

"Even if there was no Trident submarine programme we would still have had to upgrade these facilities in order to ensure that the reactor cores for the Astute-class were being properly constructed and in a safe environment," he said.