Clarification needed on latest HMS Tireless visit to the Rock

Thursday July 18th 2013

The ESG questions the presence of HMS Tireless in Gibraltar today, a submarine that historically has created much unrest and controversy in the area. The lengthy repairs to this submarine, back in the year 2000, were also the catalyst for the formation of the ESG, then known as “Concerned Citizens”. The group now addresses a wide range of local and regional environmental issues.

While the public protests against repairs to HMS Tireless took place on both sides of the border, these have to be seen against public unease over the regular presence at the time, of these nuclear, armed vessels in Gibraltar.

The Concerned Citizens Campaign called for repairs to the submarine to be carried out in an appropriate facility as well as wanting full disclosure on the potential risk posed to our community by the planned repairs. The group, with the support of Hassan’s International Law Firm, engaged the assistance of a world renowned Nuclear Physicist Dr Frank Barnaby (see below), to ensure that at every step of the way, the campaign was run responsibly.

The appearance of HMS Tireless in our port this week, soon after it experienced recent reactor coolant water problems, according to local and UK press, as well as being the year it faces decommissioning due to its age, calls for immediate clarification and affirmation of the precise nature of its visit. The ESG calls upon the Gibraltar Government to publicly advise the community of these details as soon as possible.

In any event the group states that it strongly objects to the presence of any nuclear propelled submarine berthing at the naval base since these pose a potential danger should there be a nuclear incident.
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Bibliography on Frank Barnaby

Frank Charles Barnaby is Nuclear Issues Consultant to the Oxford Research Group, a freelance defence analyst, and a prolific author on military technology, based in the UK. Barnaby trained as a nuclear physicist and worked at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston, between 1951 and 1957. He was on the senior scientific staff of the Medical Research Council (UK) when a university lecturer at University College London (1957–67). Barnaby was Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) from 1971-81. He was a Professor at the VU University Amsterdam 1981-85, and awarded the Harold Stassen Chair of International Relations at the University of Minnesota in 1985.