PAULINE JELINEK
WASHINGTON
Sailors on the submarine USS Hampton failed to carry out daily safety checks on the ship's nuclear reactor for a month and falsified records to cover up the omission, a US Navy investigation shows.
The revelation will raise new questions about US military handling of America's nuclear assets after an Air Force incident in which a B-52 bomber was accidentally loaded with nuclear-tipped missiles and flown across several states with no-one realising for more than 24 hours.
It appears from a preliminary investigation that sailors in Submarine Squadron 11 skipped the required analysis of the chemical and radiological properties of the submarine's reactor for more than a month.
"Some of the Hampton's operations and records fell short of high Navy standards," said Lieutenant Commander Ryan Perry, a navy spokesman at the Pentagon, adding: "There never was any danger to the crew or the public."
Other members of the squadron discovered the lapse during a routine examination required as part of the redundancy built into the system so that problems are caught, he said. The examination was done as the submarine neared the end of a West Pacific deployment on September 17.
Officials also discovered that logs had been filled out to make it appear that the daily checks of the reactor water had actually been done.
Six personnel have received an undisclosed punishment but the inquiry is continuing.
A nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, Hampton is the most advanced nuclear attack submarine in the world, carrying a torpedo, cruise missile, and mine-laying arsenal, according to its website.-AP
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