The bill for keeping decommissioned nuclear submarines at Rosyth has soared to £13.5 million over the last five years.
The cost for Rosyth, and the country’s only other storage site at Devonport in Plymouth, was £200,000 in 2002/3 but 10 years later that had risen to £3.9m.
From 1998-2005 the annual price tag for safeguarding the subs at both sites did not exceed £2.5m but in 2011/12 it cost £4.6m, then £3.8m the next year.
Looking after the ageing fleet at both Rosyth and Devonport over the last five years cost £16.6m.
Rosyth has been home to decommissioned nuclear submarines for decades and stored HMS Dreadnought, the UK’s first nuclear-powered sub.
Maintenance costs at the Fife dock have risen in recent years.
This is down to costly work, carried out by Babcock on behalf of the MoD, to preserve the hulls.
Rosyth is expected to lead a pilot project to break up the submarines.
The pilot is anticipated to be complete by 2019, with a submarine per year being dismantled afterwards.
Work will not start until there is a suitable waste storage facility.
