A MAJOR employer in Basingstoke and Deane has been told it must improve standards following on-going safety risks.

The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston and Burghfield has been served an improvement notice from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

The independent nuclear regulator does not consider that the issue poses an immediate risk to nuclear safety, but expects to see sustained improvements so that safety is not adversely affected in the future.

ONR has been focusing on AWE’s organisational change performance for some time. Despite a previous enforcement letter, undertaking targeted inspections and the provision of regulatory advice and guidance, ONR judges that AWE has failed to adequately address shortfalls.

The nuclear weapons firm said that improvements have been made there is more work to be done to bring things up to standard.

A spokesperson from AWE said: “We have produced, and are implementing, a fully resourced project to ensure that these arrangements are consistently and effectively managed on an ongoing and sustainable basis.”

They added: “We have a dedicated and enduring team which manage organisational capability and baseline change management, and measure and monitor performance against agreed metrics – which are regularly reviewed and reported at the appropriate level.

“AWE’s leadership remain fully focused on maintaining and delivering safe operations at AWE. The improvements that people in AWE have already been making reflect a desire to continuously improve and set the highest possible standards in conventional and nuclear safety.”

The company is required to comply with the Improvement Notices by January 15 2021.