29 October 2012
Britain’s nuclear weapons factory at Aldermaston in Berkshire has admitted to another safety incident involving the local fire service.
On 16 August a problem during an acid experiment resulted in Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue being called to the site, which helps maintain the nuclear warheads for Trident missiles carried by Royal Naval submarines.
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), a group of three private companies that runs Aldermaston for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), has previously said that there have been 50 fires at Aldermaston and at the nearby Burghfield site in the last two years.
But in a parliamentary answer earlier this month to the Green MP, Caroline Lucas, the MoD revealed that there had been an additional incident on 16 August 2012. It occurred during “a routine experiment” with acid samples, according to an AWE spokeswoman.
“An operator heard an unexpected noise from a microwave acid digester used for small scale chemical analysis,” she said. “As a precaution, our on-site emergency services were alerted and attended, and routine procedures were followed, including notification to Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue which, in accordance with its procedures, sent two appliances to be on stand-by.”
An investigation showed that the noise was caused by “a fail safe mechanism in the equipment”, the spokeswoman disclosed. “The microwave is housed in a chemical laboratory. No radioactive materials or explosives were present," she added.
“There was no release of the acid samples that were contained within the machine. No staff were injured during the incident, which posed no risk to either staff or the public.”
But Peter Burt, from the Nuclear Information Service, argued that the incident would have been "covered up" if Lucas hadn't asked her parliamenatry question. "Incidents like this prove that things can and do go wrong at AWE," he said.
"Far more openness and honesty is needed from the company to demonstrate that safety standards are adequate at Aldermaston."
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