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| 'Nuclear scare' case goes to court Two companies are due in court over an experiment which threatened to explode at a nuclear and chemical research laboratory near Didcot in Oxfordshire. The Health and Safety Executive is prosecuting AEA Technology and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) over the incident at the latter's Harwell plant in September 1999. The army's bomb squad was called to the lab after an experiment to recover silver from a chemical compound went wrong, and the companies feared explosion. Two army officers were later awarded the George Medal for their bravery in dealing with a potentially explosive compound. Unlimited fines The HSE alleges that both companies failed to make suitable and sufficient risk assessments of the risks to which their employees and others were exposed. The case will be heard at Oxford Crown Court on Friday. If found guilty of breaking health and safety rules the two companies face a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine. AEA Technology was a tenant on the site, owned by the UKAEA, at the time of the incident. The company was part of the UKAEA before being hived off and privatised in 1996. 18th January 2002 |
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