AWE Aldermaston site returns to routine regulatory attention for safety

AWE welcomes today’s (6 March) announcement by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) that AWE’s Aldermaston site has been returned to routine regulatory attention for safety.  

This move acknowledges the significant and sustained safety improvements and efforts of AWE teams over more than a decade to improve the safety of its operations and to bring about significant cultural change. This has included improvements to leadership, organisational capability, decision-making and internal assurance and challenge.

The ONR confirms that AWE has now demonstrated its capability and capacity to deliver sustainable safety performance through its decommissioning programme and an improvement in plant status and maintenance for ageing facilities.

Ian Rogers, AWE’s Chief Nuclear Officer and Executive Director of Corporate Assurance said: “Regulatory confidence in our ability to operate as a mature autonomous licensee is hugely important as we focus on delivering our important mission to meet the needs of defence both safely and securely. Maintaining an effective working relationship with the ONR and our other regulators based on trust will be a key enabler to our ability to deliver the challenging programme ahead.

“Moving to routine attention at Aldermaston is not the endpoint but an important waypoint in our journey of continuous self-improvement. AWE has shown its commitment to improving the safety of its operations and we will keep holding ourselves to the highest standards as we continue to strive for safety excellence. This will be our focus as we enter a significant period of physical change at the Aldermaston and Burghfield sites, with investment in new and upgraded facilities alongside a decommissioning plan which is transforming the skylines of both sites.”