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The Armed Forces Minister has apologised after a coroner criticised the "systemic failures" which caused an explosion on board a nuclear submarine that killed two submariners.
Bob Ainsworth admitted "avoidable failings" brought about the blast on HMS Tireless in March 2007.
Operator Mechanic Anthony Huntrod, 20, from Sunderland, and Leading Operator Mechanic Paul McCann, 32, from Halesowen, West Midlands, died while on a mission under the arctic ice.
The explosion in a confined compartment was caused by a damaged Self Contained Oxygen Generator (Scog) moments after it was activated by one of the men.
Sunderland coroner Derek Winter criticised the Ministry of Defence's handling of Scogs in his narrative verdict. Almost 1,000 of them were recycled from a hazardous waste dump in Devonport and brought back into service by civil servant Christopher Clark, of the Marine Environment Survivability and Habitability project, as a cost cutting measure. "His decision was inappropriate," Mr Winter said.
No consideration was made to how they had been stored and their safety during that time, the coroner said. While it was impossible to say whether the Scog which exploded was one saved from the dump, Mr Winter said it was a "significant possibility".
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He said Scogs were not properly inspected, left in the open air, roughly handled and badly stored on board. "There was a culture of complacency regarding the risks posed by Scogs and a tolerance of practices likely to increase those risks," Mr Winter said.
Later, in his narrative verdict, the coroner criticised Mr Clark's decision to reissue the Scogs from the dump. "Those systemic failures led to the contamination and damage, in turn, caused the explosion." He will write to the Defence Secretary and Mr Ainsworth with his concerns.
The minister responded: "I would like to unreservedly apologise to the families, as I have done previously in the House and in person, for the avoidable failings, for which this department is responsible, which brought about this tragic incident. I would also like to pay tribute to the crew of HMS Tireless for their courageous and professional response."
He said lessons had been learned and during the seven-week inquest it was revealed that Scogs were no longer in use on the British submarine flotilla.
