False alarm at Atomic Weapons Establishment
Local residents and emergency services left in the dark after alarm sounded on Friday
PEOPLE living in the area surrounding the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston, and the emergency services, were left in the dark about why an alarm sounded at the site during the early hours of Friday morning (September 9).
The site provides and maintains warheads for Britain's nuclear deterrent, Trident, and AWE spokeswoman, Rachel Whybrow, said today (Monday) that the emergency services and local residents were not notified about the alarm, or why it had gone off at 5.15am, because it was found to be a false alarm.
She said that had it been found to be a real emergency alarm call then off-site plan procedures would have been instigated and those living in the immediate vicinity of the AWE and the emergency services would have been informed.
Ms Whybrow said: "Following our well rehearsed procedures, the site gates were closed while it was checked out. It was quickly found to be a false alarm, the gates were reopened by 6am. The site is operating normally.”
In August last year several neighbouring residents of the AWE site in Aldermaston had to be immediately evacuated from their homes as 63 firefighters attended an fire in one of the site's buildings. Afterwards some residents said that they had panicked as they were not aware of what was going on or how serious the situation was.
But Newbury MP Richard Benyon said today that he had not yet received any calls of concern about Friday's alarm sounding off.
“I haven't had one letter, telephone call or email about it, or from local residents saying they are worried about the safety of the plant in my six years as an MP, so I don't think it's an issue,” said Mr Benyon.
However, he added that it was always good policy to examine procedures following such incidents: “It's obviously a sensitive site and no-one is complacent about it, least of all the people who work there,” he said.
AWE employs around 4,500 people, but the company was unable to confirm exactly how many would have been on-site at 5am on Friday.
