Secret government files reveal coverup of shocking incident at UK nuclear bomb base: 'Outrageous'

Yei Ling Ma
Fri, September 26, 2025 
TCD



Dating back to 2010, 2019, and again in 2021, a network of old pipes at a United Kingdom nuclear bomb base burst multiple times, according to The Guardian. A 2019 leak reportedly allowed water contaminated with low levels of radioactive waste to drain out into nearby Loch Long, the sea inlet adjacent to an armaments depot at Coulport in Scotland.

What's happening?

Details about the radioactive water leak in 2019 have only just been released to the public through previously confidential government files.

Collected by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the documentation indicates that the pipe failure was due to poor facility maintenance by the Royal Navy. According to the SEPA files, up to half of the infrastructural components were old and "beyond their design life" at the time, as The Guardian described.

Weakened pipes became compromised and allowed a significant amount of water to enter the area holding the nuclear weapons, which contain radioactive tritium, ultimately contaminating the water.

The UK Ministry of Defense decided to keep the incident under wraps, citing reasons of national security, which led to a six-year-long fight by reporters to inform the public. It wasn't until August of this year that the Scottish Information Commissioner ruled that the files would be made public.

What the files revealed was shocking: 2019 wasn't the first time the facility had experienced leaks. The first reported leak in the facility happened almost a decade prior in 2010.

Nuclear weapons expert David Cullen called the attempts to keep the facility failures from the public "outrageous," per The Guardian. "The [Ministry of Defense] is almost 10 years into a nearly £2 [billion] infrastructure programme at Faslane and Coulport, and yet they apparently didn't have a proper asset management system as recently as 2022," Cullen said.

Why is nuclear waste concerning?

The SEPA files reported that only low levels of tritium contaminated the water and were released into Loch Long, presenting minimal, if any, risk to human health.

However, other forms of radioactive waste, such as waste created during the nuclear fission process, are high-level and long-term. They stay highly radioactive for tens of thousands of years, according to the Government Accountability Office. That's why radioactive waste must be adequately contained and disposed of to minimize harm to humans, the environment, and the planet.

Despite the high-risk nature of nuclear energy, it remains one of the largest sources of low-carbon power. Unlike the burning of dirty fossil fuels, which produces planet-heating gases, nuclear energy leverages the strong nuclear force that comes from splitting or joining atoms to create energy.

Not dependent on weather conditions, proponents say nuclear energy could be a more consistent source of cleaner energy if achieved practically at scale. A part of that, of course, would involve ensuring that safe infrastructure as well as public trust would be honestly and expertly maintained, for a very different outcome than in Coulport.

Leaks and other facility failures have the understandable potential to leave communities nervous about nuclear technology.
What's being done about nuclear waste?

Responsibly and thoughtfully addressing nuclear waste challenges could make nuclear energy a more sustainable energy option, along with a menu of cleaner sources.

One nuclear engineering professor at North Carolina State University dispelled some common myths surrounding the waste. According to Robert B. Hayes, the United States does not create enough to cover a football field.

In addition, the nuclear waste is compacted into small ceramic pellets and stored securely at 70 sites throughout the country. There has not been a known leak in the U.S. in 55 years.

Nuclear waste can also be recycled to create new fuel. Plenty of detractors argue that the risks of nuclear are too high, but it's possible that serious investments in research, innovation, safety, and public communication could help improve its viability as a part of the cleaner energy mix.