Angry British Royal Navy commanders have ordered an urgent investigation after a fatal mistake by workers at a naval contractor caused a nuclear submarine disaster.
And the British newspaper “The Sun” reported, on Tuesday, that the company’s workers repaired broken screws with “super glue”, which is a strong adhesive used in homes, but it is not suitable for a nuclear-powered marine piece, reports Al-Rai daily.
According to “Sky News Arabia”, what makes the matter worse is that these screws were necessary for the cooling tubes of the HMS Vanguard nuclear submarine reactor, which is the largest submarine produced by the United Kingdom.
The Sun indicated that the matter was discovered when one of these screws fell during a regular examination. Those bolts were separated during a repair process, which was described as “incomplete”, and instead of informing the British Maritime Company workers of the failure to repair and correct the defect in the damaged cylinders, they resorted to the use of “super glue”.
Later, the workers spoke of a procedural glitch, but kept quiet about the details, including the issue of loose screws and “superglue”.
The British Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace, ordered a meeting with the contracting company to obtain assurances about the future of “this work”.
A source in the British Navy said that the minister was angry with the work of the company, especially since it did not acknowledge what happened.
The source added that what happened was a “scandal”, stressing that “nuclear standards can never be compromised.”
The mistake was made during a maintenance operation that the nuclear submarine underwent, which also included refuelling it, at Plymouth base in southwest England, years ago.
The error was discovered, in January, by Navy engineers who were seeking to operate the submarine’s nuclear reactor to its full potential.
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