Nuclear Information Service

As a public service, NIS monitors and reports on non-sensitive developments at and about British nuclear weapons production related sites.

NIS publishes material relating to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston and Burghfield sites, located in the southern English County of West Berkshire. Since the 1950s, AWE is where the design, production, assembly, maintenance, disassembly and decommissioning of nuclear weapons takes place. Between 2004 and 2015, building developments are underway to enable a new generation of warheads to be researched and designed without underground nuclear testing. See monthly NIS Updates on the new developments at AWE.

Other nuclear weapons related sites include the Clyde facilties at RNAD Coulport and the Naval Base Faslane; RRMPOL Derby and DML Devonport. All these sites creat nuclear discharges and waste.

Ibex House
85 Southampton Street
Reading
RG1 2QU
United Kingdom

Tel / fax: 0118 327 7489
email: office(at)nuclearinfo.org

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'Beating the Bomb' movie about the history of the UK #peace movement now online at Youtube: http://t.co/KkomtNZm

latest on Peter Burt's blog

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2008 Annual Report released by NIS.
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Objection to MoD Planning Application: 08/02287/COMIND

2009-02-24 19:08

The requirement for AWE to improve the safety of its warhead disassembly bunkers is not disputed. In 2007 NIS published ‘How Safe is AWE Burghfield?’ a report based on FoI disclosures documenting the safety failures of the existing ‘Gravel Gertie’ (GG) facilities and addressing the dilemma in which the MoD found itself. In 2006 and 2007 the HSE Nuclear Inspectorate (NI) pressed AWE to close the facility until essential safety improvements could be carried out. The MoD refused on ‘national security‘ grounds. Eventually the NI secured an agreement that warhead work would only be carried out under a single-operation permissioning regime, which continues today. This emergency arrangement ensures that no work is done by AWE before the NI have inspected the buildings on each occasion permission is requested.

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NIS Obj.Jan.09.pdf	237.11 KB