Blast on nuclear sub left 2 dead.

Byline: By TOM WILKINSON

AN explosion which killed two men on board a nuclear submarine while they were on exercise under the Arctic ice was caused by "systematic failures," a coroner said yesterday.

Operator Mechanic Anthony Huntrod, 20, from Sunderland, and Leading Operator Mechanic Paul McCann from Halesowen, West Midlands, died when an oxygen generator exploded two years ago while HMS Tireless was on a war games operation.

Sunderland coroner Derek Winter gave a narrative verdict saying "systematic failures led to the contamination and damage" of the oxygen generators on board "which in turn caused the explosion".

During the seven-week inquest the coroner heard a batch of almost 1,000 Self Contained Oxygen Generators (SCOGs) left in a hazardous waste depot in Devonport were returned to Royal Navy service in 2006.

Mr Winter said it was "a significant possibility" that the SCOG which exploded was one that had originally been sent to the dump.

But it was impossible to say because the method of tracking and accounting for SCOGs was incomplete.

Mr Winter was critical of the way the oxygen generators were handled, stored and managed.

He said: "There was a culture of complacency regarding the risks posed by SCOGs and a tolerance of practices likely to increase those risks."

He said at Devonport the practices were much less rigorous than at the UK's other main nuclear sub base at Faslane, Scotland.

The inquest heard the explosion happened 8,000 miles from the UK, 170 miles north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, when Tireless was on an exercise with an American sub USS Alexandria.

It happened in a forward escape compartment shortly after an oxygen generator was activated.

The 1.5kg flask contained a chemical briquette which would normally release oxygen when fired.

But the inquest heard they could burn with "ferocious violence" if contamination had occurred, or the casing was damaged.

The blast happened in the cramped compartment which quickly filled with smoke.

The explosion caused hatch doors to buckle trapping the men inside for almost three quarters of an hour while fellow submariners tried desperately to reach them.

It was only when a crowbar was found that accesswas gained butMr Huntrod had already suffered fatal injuries, while Mr McCann succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Their colleague Stores Accountant Richard Holleworth was injured in the blast and passed out having tried to rescue the fatally injured men.

He gave evidence to say the thought of his unborn son helped him survive and he was later airlifted to hospital.

The nuclear submarine was not badly damaged in the explosion and remained seaworthy.

It punched a hole through thin ice and the dead submariners were taken to a nearby base and flown home.

The coroner said Christopher Clark, a civil servantwith theMarine Environment Survivability and Habitability Project, decided to bring back into use the Scogs from the hazardous waste depot because he wanted to cut costs for the MoD.

Mr Winter said: "He did not give any consideration to the safety implications of returning Scogs which had been selected for consignment to a hazardous waste store and actually stored in the conditions of such a store."

CAPTION(S):

Paul McCann; Anthony Huntrod