NUCLEAR sites are a major safety concern, campaigners warned today after a fire broke out at a submarine shipyard.
Two people were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation after emergency services were called to the fire at the BAE Systems nuclear submarine shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, early this morning, police said.
Footage on social media showed flames shooting out from the building, alarms blaring.
Cumbria Constabulary said there was no nuclear risk but warned residents to remain indoors and keep their windows closed.
CND general secretary Kate Hudson said: “Thankfully no-one was killed in this serious industrial fire, but questions remain about how and why it started.
“Safety remains a major cause for concern across Britain’s nuclear-industrial complex, and this accident is bound to come with additional costs.
“An alternative would be to scrap Britain’s nuclear weapons and work with unions to develop a defence diversification strategy that saves jobs and lives.”
The facility is one of four nuclear submarine ports in Britain; it makes the Royal Navy’s £1.6 billion Astute-class submarines and Dreadnought programme.
In 2022, Declassified UK reported that Cumbria Council had distributed 12,020 iodine tablets to schools, colleges, daycare centres and nurseries in the area as a precaution against a radiation leak.
BAE said at the time that people 400 yards downwind of a submarine would need to take iodine in the “first few hours” of such an emergency. The firm had stockpiled enough iodine for 32,000 people who live or work in the area.
Debbie Holliday, 37, who lives opposite the Devonshire Dock Hall, where the fire started yesterday, said she was woken by the alarm from the site and could see “lots of smoke.”
She said: “It was quite thick and you could see the fire on the top of the building. I started to get more concerned when I saw flames on the roof. We just stayed inside and shut the windows.”
“The children slept through it but I have the front bedroom. I could hear what sounded like fireworks as well as the alarm and could see bright flashes where the fire was. It lasted 45 minutes or maybe more.”
BAE Systems is the world’s seventh-largest military contractor; it manufactures weapons and equipment routinely used in Israel’s war crimes against the people of Palestine.
