Britain's Sub-Diversive Activities.GIBRALTAR -- The tragic sinking of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk captured the world's headlines, but another atomic sub disaster poses a continuing threat to Europe. According to The Sunday Times, the 280-foot British nuclear sub Tireless came within "a few minutes" of a reactor meltdown when its coolant system sprang a leak while on patrol off Sicily last summer. The Ministry of Defense refused to disclose how much radioactive coolant coolant (kōō´l nt),n water was discharged into the Mediterranean Sea. The Tireless was to have returned to Britain for repairs but that plan was abandoned in November because of potential risks "to the submarine, its crew and ... coastal communities." Attempting to repair the Tireless at Gibraltar would violate Royal Navy procedures. Gibraltar has no facilities for radiation monitoring, and the damaged vessel was tied up only 1,800 meters from the desalination desalination or desalting Removal of dissolved salts from seawater and from the salty waters of inland seas, highly mineralized groundwaters, and municipal wastewaters. plant that supplies Gibraltar's drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. . Leaked cooling water can contain deadly isotopes of plutoniurn, iodine, cesium cesium (sē`zēəm) [Lat.,=bluish gray], a metallic chemical element; symbol Cs; at. no. 55; at. wt. 132.9054; m.p. 28.4°C;; b.p. 669.3°C;; sp. gr. 1.873 at 20°C;; valence +1. , strontium strontium (strŏn`shēəm) [from Strontian, a Scottish town], a metallic chemical element; symbol Sr; at. no. 38; at. wt. 87.62; m.p. 769°C;; b.p. 1,384°C;; sp. gr. 2.6 at 20°C;; valence +2. and cobalt. |
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