News review
Sustainable Industry
Nuclear regulator says MOD has
broken law on radioactive waste
Health and Safety legislation breached at Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment
By Jack Allen
he Office for Nuclear
T Regulation
(ONR) has
accused UK defence
chiefs of breaching Health and
Safety legislation by failing to
protect the public from the risk
of radioactive waste at one of
its atomic weapons bases.
An official Improvement Notice
has been served on the Atomic
Weapons Establishment (AWE) at
Aldermaston in Berkshire after the
watchdog said the site operators, a
consortium of private companies
including Serco, were breaking the
law. The ONR said that while it is
satisfied there is no immediate
“significant risk” to the public, the
AWE has contravened strict Health
and Safety laws for failing to plan
for the management of “higher
active radioactive waste” at the site.
The move follows the failure of
operators to reduce 1,000 drums
of radioactive waste by February
2014. Aldermaston has now been
given 14 months to show how it
Defence chiefs ordered to tackle nuclear waste stockpile
plans to resolve the future risk.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD)
owns the AWE sites and facilities
though day-to-day management,
operations and the maintenance
of Britain’s nuclear stockpile were
handed to a consortium of three
private sector firms – Serco Group,
Jacobs Engineering Group and
Lockheed Martin Corporation.
The consortium is responsible
for employing the workforce as
well as maintaining the nuclear
site operating licences and
discharge authorisations.
The MOD holds a special share in
AWE with authority to retain control
over the company and its assets,
and is meant to monitor operations
and performance “with the
objective of maintaining high safety
and security standards at all times”.
An ONR statement confirmed:
“This enforcement action relates to
the long-term management of
higher active radioactive waste.
Sustainable Energy
Sustainable Policy
Scots use 147 million fewer carrier
bags following single-use charging
By Anna Wright
Scotland’s Environment
Secretary Richard Lochhead
has welcomed the news that
carrier bag usage was reduced
by 147 million last year, despite
the charge on single-use carrier
bags only being in place for the
last 11 weeks of the year.
The figures, published by WRAP,
cover the 2014 calendar year for
the UK from seven major grocery
retailers. In Scotland, bag usage
dropped from 193.5 million in the
fourth quarter of 2013 to 64.6
million during the same period in
2014, suggesting Scotland is well
8 GreenWeek July 24, 2015
ONR is satisfied that the current
conditions [