AWE welcomes the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Report 2018/19 published today (11 Oct) by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).
The AWE sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield remain in enhanced regulatory attention for the 2018/19 period. This has been in part due to continued operations in ageing facilities while replacements with modern safety standards are being built.
During 2017, AWE began developing a Structured Improvement Programme (SIP) designed to bring about long-term and sustained business improvements in safety and regulatory compliance across both its sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield.
The AWE SIP is a wide-ranging programme of work which consists of four inter-related projects focusing on safe operations, process, change and stakeholder interactions. The SIP is now at the implementation phase and the ONR notes that it continues to receive support and commitment at all levels throughout AWE.
In its report, the ONR states: ‘Recognising that AWE has a programme of work in place to improve safety performance, the nature of improvements required, and the time they will take to deliver and embed, the AWE sites will remain under enhanced regulatory attention until we are satisfied that sufficient progress has been demonstrated. Maintaining its current trajectory, we expect that AWE should be in a position to demonstrate evidence to support a move into routine regulatory attention during 2021.’
Paul Rees, AWE’s Director of Environment, Safety and Health, said: “While we acknowledge that short-term challenges remain, the progress we are making in some areas demonstrates our strong commitment to improving safety and regulatory compliance.
“Achieving the highest standards in safety performance is a priority for everyone at AWE and we will continue to work closely with our regulators to achieve this.”