Fire investigation at UK's nuclear arms plant
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Aug 5, IRNA -- An investigation has been launched by the Ministry of Defence and the Health and Safety Executive into a fire at the UK’s main nuclear weapons plant in Aldermaston, 70 kms west of London.
But the Nuclear Information Service (NIS), a group that campaigns on disarmament and monitors the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), called for an independent inquiry on the blaze at the plant that occurred on Tuesday night.
"The incident was serious enough for the fire service to be called out, local residents to be evacuated and local roads cordoned off. It seems that we came within a hair's breadth of everyone's nightmare scenario,” said NIS director Peter Burt.
"AWE handles radioactive materials, explosives, and hazardous chemicals and despite extensive safety precautions on the site, this incident shows that accidents can and do happen.” Burt warned.
A spokesman for the AWE, provides and maintains the warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons system, Trident, played the incident down, insisting there were no "radiological implications."
But Burt said there was a risk of the incident, which was said to have occurred in the non-nuclear explosives area of the AWE, a "domino effect" leading to a rapid spread of fire.
"There is no room for complacency,” he warned in a statement obtained by IRNA.
"We wish to see a full independent inquiry held to investigate this incident as soon as possible.”
“The results of the inquiry must be made public so that local people can see that lessons have been learned and that their safety is AWE's number one priority," he added.
AWE has been central to the UK's nuclear programme for more than 50 years. It manufactures and maintains warheads for Trident, the submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile weapons system.
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