SPANISH FURY OVER NUCLEAR SUB COMMENTS

By Humphrey Carter BRITAIN may not have said very much about the future of Gibraltar at the trilateral talks in Majorca this week, but the British government's refusal to stop using the rock as a workshop for nuclear submarines has provoked the threat of massive protests on the Spanish border with Gibraltar. The mayor of La Linea, Juan Carlos Juarez, warned on Tuesday that unless some kind of assurances from Britain were forthcoming about future plans for nuclear submarines in Gibraltar, protest action will be taken. In fact, Juarez has warned that the next visit by a nuclear submarine will be met by the biggest demonstration the Camp de Gibraltar has ever seen. Yesterday, in response to the British government's director general for European Affairs, Mediterranean, Dominick Chilcott's refusal to provide guarantees that nuclear repairs will cease, the environmental group Ecologists in Action called for mass protests across Andalusia. The ecologists slammed Chilcott's answer to Spain's request as “unacceptable.” Britain's comments in Majorca came on the eve of today's hearing in the European Court of the case against Britain for carrying out repairs on HMS Tireless in Gibraltar. A spokesperson for Ecologists in Action said yesterday that the European Court hearing “clearly demonstrates” that the European Union does not approve of Britain carrying out nuclear repairs in Gibraltar “especially without complying to the European Union security and safety requirements that the military and civilian populations should not be placed at any kind of risk. “Apart from wanting an end to such visits in the name of protecting the local land and sea environments, we also want Britain to stop diverting nuclear submarines to Britain for the safety of the local population. “We demand that, for once and for all, Britain no longer uses Gibraltar as a Naval base. ”A nuclear accident in Gibraltar would directly effect a radius of ten kilometres, including the towns of Algeciras and La Linea, and the fall-out would extend 200 miles into Andalusia. If Britain is going to continue ignoring the wishes of the local population, including the Chief Minister of Gibraltar Peter Caruana who doesn't approve of nuclear repairs on his patch, Ecologists in Action have demanded that both the people of Gibraltar and their neighbours over the border, are fully briefed on what action to take in the event of a nuclear accident. According to the Scottish Agency for the Protection of the Environment, Ecologists in Action said yesterday that an accident on board a nuclear submarine would be “similar to Chernobyl.” Chilcott made it clear to his Spanish counterpart Josep Pons that Britain is not going to buckle under pressure while it will give assurances that the maximum security and safety measures are taken. Juan Carlos Juarez claims that, to avoid using British ports and putting British communities at risk, the British deliberately divert nuclear submarines for repairs to Gibraltar.