AWE welcomes the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Report 2020/21

AWE welcomes the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Report 2020/21 published today (19 October 2021) by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

We are pleased that the ONR acknowledges continued safety improvements in many areas at our Aldermaston and Burghfield sites over the reporting period (1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021).

A decision will be made by the ONR as to whether the AWE Burghfield site will be moved from enhanced to routine regulatory attention at the end of 2021, while the earliest projection for the Aldermaston site is at the end of 2022.

The ONR comments that the variation in predicted regulatory attention levels for the two sites is the result of several factors including the nature of operations, age of facilities and the comparative size and complexity of the two sites.

While progress continues to be made, we recognise that sustainable improvement is needed in areas such as the asset management of ageing facilities and infrastructure, our capacity to deliver adequate quality safety cases on time and the implementation of associated facility upgrades.

Paul Rees, AWE’s Director of Environment, Safety and Health, said: “There’s more work to be done to meet these projections, but the progress we’ve made to date, particularly at Burghfield, demonstrates our strong commitment to sustained and improved safety performance. We will continue to work closely with the ONR to achieve these standards.”