Apparently there was a ‘minor’ nuclear accident in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month. AP via Washington Post:
Nuclear-armed submarines from Britain and France collided deep under the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, causing damage to both vessels but releasing no radioactivity, a British official said Monday.
The two submarines are at the core of their countries’ nuclear forces, each carrying a battery of intercontinental ballistic missiles equipped with multiple warheads. None of the media reports suggested there had been any risk of the collision accidentally triggering the missiles, which can be launched only after complex procedures designed to make the missiles fail-safe in the event of accidents.
But what little is known about the collision suggests that the two vessels were fortunate to have avoided a more serious outcome, including sinking. Although defense officials in London and Paris gave no indication of where the collision occurred, the fact that it took Le Triomphant three days to limp back to its home port after the collision, a detail disclosed by French officials, suggested the two craft had been far out at sea.