§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the health, safety and environmental standards observed at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston, are satisfactory having regard to the report published in the Observer on 24 October. [HL4389]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)Safe operation is of prime importance at the Atomic Weapons Establishment and media claims that AWE had been at risk of a "catastrophic nuclear accident numerous times" in the past year are inaccurate. MoD has staff permanently located at AWE to monitor the safety performance of Hunting BRAE Ltd which manages the site on a government owned, contractor operated basis) who provide quarterly reports on all such issues. These reports have been mostly of very minor incidents.
In addition, both Aldermaston and Burghfield are nuclear licensed sites and are subject to independent regulation by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII). The NII also have full time inspectors based at Aldermaston, who carry out regular inspections of the site and have the power to shut down operations.
None of the incidents reported represented any threat to the general public.