Berkshire nuclear weapons plant warned
The plant has been issued with an improvement
Aldermaston’s nuclear bomb making factory AWE has been ordered to improve procedures after damaging an explosives component.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has served an improvement notice on AWE following an incident at its Aldermaston site in West Berkshire.
ONR issued the notice after an explosive component was damaged by workers assembling a unit for testing purposes in August.
The damage was caused when workers failed to follow appropriate procedures when manually handling the component.
But the ONR says the type of activities undertaken in the Explosive Technology Centre could not result in any radiological risk. There was no risk to the public or the environment from this incident.
ONR’s investigation, which was supported by the Health and Safety Executive, found that AWE had failed to effectively plan, organise and control the procedure, which resulted in employees being subjected to additional health and safety risks.
Tim Allmark, ONR’s Head of Regulation for Weapons Sub-Directorate, said: “The notice requires AWE to ensure that arrangements for explosive safety are appropriate to the activities being undertaken.
“AWE took appropriate and timely action in response to the incident, and we will continue to engage with them during the period of the improvement notice to ensure positive progress is made to address this shortfall.”
AWE Plc has until the 20 August 2025 to comply with the notice.