How a six-year quest led to uncovering radioactive leaks at Scotland's Trident base
Veteran environmental journalist Rob Edwards landed the Ferret's radioactive scoop
Below is a look at the patient work that lay behind this investigation. On another note - I have tried to email my local subscribers about Vicky and my book launch party at the Pitt in Edinburgh on Thursday but it was not a massively successful effort - I emailed some people 7 times and others not at all. So if you are in the area and would like to join us - here is the link. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/take-me-to-the-river-launch-party-tickets-1564331801529
Last month, Scotland’s crowd-funded investigative journalism outfit The Ferret, in partnership with The Guardian, published documents showing that radioactive water from the Royal Navy’s Coulport armaments depot leaked into Loch Long after ageing pipes burst and flooded areas where nuclear warheads are handled.
Loch Long is a 20-mile-long seawater loch that flows into the Firth of Clyde. People fish there; they swim and paddleboard. They had a right to know about the leak - and we all had a right to know about sloppy work practices at the base, which is essentially a floating dock for the UK’s Trident submarine fleet.
I bumped into Edwards - who I know because we are both members of the Edinburgh NUJ freelance branch - during the Edinburgh Book Festival and asked him about this - he explained it had taken him six years to get the evidence released.
Edwards said the incident should have been disclosed in 2019 - instead, years of withholding and delay turned it into a major public‑interest story. Edwards was also - understandably - cross that some of the bigger media outfits that picked it up, didn’t even mention the Ferret.
Here is the story of the patient work behind this important scoop.
The scoop
Files released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) cite “shortfalls in maintenance” across roughly 1,500 ageing pipes and refer to the production of “unnecessary radioactive waste” reaching the loch via an open drain.
The MoD maintains there were no unsafe releases; SEPA says measured levels were very low and points to subsequent improvements.
Edwards’ view is “This should not have happened. However low the levels, radioactive tritium doesn’t belong in the loch.”
Why Edwards went fishing
Edwards has worked this beat for decades. In 2008–09, assisted by campaigners, his FOI requests to SEPA unearthed documents about previously undisclosed submarine coolant leaks at Faslane — coverage that led new bulletins and front pages. That experience, he says, “established a pattern: the MoD is not as transparent as it should be on environmental issues”, and SEPA can be a productive route for disclosure under FOI/EIR.
In 2019, Edwards sought fresh records of radioactive incidents at Faslane/Coulport. Much was withheld on national‑security grounds.
Then SEPA suffered a catastrophic cyber‑attack; amid the pandemic, his request — along with nearly 1,000 others — was quietly abandoned without notice. Edwards re‑filed his requests for full coverage before and added on for after 2019. Again, much was withheld, and he appealed.
Scotland’s Information Commissioner ruled this should be released
Because the material concerned the environment, Edwards’ case fell under Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs). Here, Scottish law set the terms — and the threshold for secrecy — that proved decisive.
Under Scottish EIRs, information can be withheld for security only if disclosure would “prejudice substantially” national security.
Under the UK‑wide regime, the bar is lower: disclosure that would merely “adversely affect” national security can be withheld.
Edwards appealed to Scotland’s Information Commissioner (SIC), David Hamilton, who can examine withheld material in camera and weigh the public interest. After investigating, Hamilton ordered SEPA to release nearly all of the documents. A last‑minute MoD intervention delayed release by about a week, but the ruling stood: publication would not threaten national security — though it might threaten reputations.
Edwards argues that, had the appeal been to the UK ICO against the MoD directly, “we probably wouldn’t be reading these documents now.”
For UK‑wide bodies, he notes, requests and appeals run under the English test, which makes it easier for them to refuse release.
Behind the scenes: MoD pressure on SEPA
To understand the withholdings, Edwards filed a meta‑FOI for SEPA’s correspondence with the MoD about his requests. Emails, he says, showed a pattern of the ministry urging SEPA to withhold or delay on national‑security grounds - with added eleventh‑hour references to “additional considerations” and requests for extra time.
SEPA initially withheld large portions and only disclosed them after the SIC’s decision. The commissioner had already examined the material and concluded publication would not harm security.
The late-night data drop
In place of cardboard boxes, two emails arrived late one night — one pre‑2019, one post‑2019 — with 33 PDFs, ranging from single‑page notes to documents running over many pages. Because SEPA posts releases to its disclosure log, there’s a risk others will spot the same trove; Edwards argues for a short grace period so requesters can read before being gazumped. Either way, speed matters.
Edwards’ workflow is methodical: an initial read to spot threads; a second read to test assumptions; a third to take extensive notes, copy key lines, build a chronology, and match claims to evidence. Then come the rights of reply — SEPA, the MoD, experts and campaigners. From the email drop to publication took about a week.
What Edwards found
The papers contain few numbers, but identify tritium as the pollutant. Loch Long’s volume means significant dilution, and Edwards is cautious about overstating risk.
Still, tritium’s ~12‑year half‑life and its ability to bind with water and organic matter raise questions — and, Edwards says, “no artificial radioactivity from the bombs programme should be in the environment without the public being told.”
Perhaps even more concerning is the maintenance picture: thousands of pipes beyond design life, “sub‑optimal” replacement plans, and floods in sensitive areas at what he calls “the UK’s most sensitive weapons site.”
Getting the news out
The story went live at noon on Saturday August 9 on The Ferret and the Guardian’s sites and led the homepage for much of the day, with a follow‑up in Monday’s paper. Most outlets credited The Ferret; some did not.
The Herald, for example, ran the story a few days later with a line picked up from an earlier Ferret story with no mention of the Ferret - and to add insult to injury an Exclusive tab. This isn’t about ego: proper credit and linking are vital to keeping this small investigative newsroom afloat.
The Ferret’s model (and why credit matters)
The Ferret operates as a member‑owned co‑operative focused on Scottish accountability journalism. It relies on three revenue streams: members/subscribers, grants for public‑interest investigations (with editorial independence), and co‑publishing fees from legacy outlets. In a tight subscription market, credit and links are not just etiquette but part of the sustainability model.
The co‑op recently marked its tenth anniversary - an impressive feat from that first kitchen table meeeting where they dined on burned pizza. They no longer let Edwards heat up the pizzas. (In fact, Edwards is now semi-retired and has stepped back from decision-making.)
But the survival of the outfit proves, Edwards is pleased to report, that “there’s clearly a significant appetite for investigative journalism in Scotland.”
To subscribe to the Ferret, click here
Key dates
2008–09 — Edwards’ FOIs expose previously unknown submarine coolant leaks; national coverage follows.
2010 — Pipe burst at Coulport.
2019 — Two pipe bursts; flooded area becomes contaminated; tritium reaches Loch Long via an open drain.
Mar 2020 — MoD promises 23 actions to prevent repeats.
2021 — Two further bursts; SEPA cites “shortfalls in maintenance/asset management.”
2021–22 — SEPA cyber‑attack; pandemic; original FOI abandoned; requests re‑filed.
2024–25 — Scottish Information Commissioner orders release under EIR; MoD intervention delays by ~a week.
Aug 2025 — 33 files released; The Ferret/Guardian publish the scoop.
Great read Jackie!
Even though the Ferret was honest enough to say the leak was not necessarily catastrophic, there wasn't supposed to be any leakage at any time ever. Scary.