Why dismantling nuclear submarines takes decades

Why has the United Kingdom had trouble dismantling its retired nuclear submarines?

Because safe reactor disposal is novel, technically demanding, and a long-term storage problem faced by every nuclear navy.

Britain's delay is placed in an international context rather than treated as a uniquely British failure. Navies must devise procedures for work they have not previously performed at scale while avoiding radiological accidents. The United States stores removed reactor compartments in controlled desert sites, while Soviet liquid-metal reactors created their own exceptional problems. Different geography and reactor types produce different disposal solutions, but none is quick or simple.