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The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) – the factory where the UK's nuclear weapons are designed and made – is under investigation by the government's nuclear safety watchdog for failing to comply with instructions for managing a growing backlog of radioactive waste.
Repairs to structural damage to a major nuclear processing facility at Britain's main nuclear weapons factory will not be completed until May 2015 – almost three years after the problems were first discovered.
Serco Group, one of the three corporate partners in AWE Management Ltd, the company which runs the UK's nuclear weapons factories, has agreed to repay more than £68 million to the government after overcharging on a contract with the Ministry of Justice for the electronic tagging of prisoners.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has given permission for construction work to start on a radioactive materials store as part of 'Project Pegasus' at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), but has criticised AWE for “numerous instances” of failing to provide adequate information in the application to commence work.
A scathing report by the government's health and safety watchdog into a fire which broke out at Britain's nuclear weapons factory has concluded that it was fortunate that the incident did not lead to “numerous fatalities.”
The factories which build and maintain the UK's nuclear weapons are among five nuclear sites which require an “enhanced level of regulatory attention” because of the risks they pose, according to the government's nuclear safety regulator.
Local councils and emergency services have blocked a bid to halve the area of a nuclear emergency planning zone surrounding the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston, despite a recommendation to scale down the zone by the government agency responsible for nuclear safety.