Extension Of AWE Contract Condemned

12.00.00am GMT Thu 23rd Jan 2003

David Rendel MP has condemned the Government's decision to extend AWE Management Ltd's contract to run the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston from 10 years to 25 years.

Mr Rendel has opposed AWE's management of the site from the start, given that the consortium includes two companies with highly questionable safety records - BNFL and Lockheed Martin.

Commenting, Mr Rendel said:

"It is extraordinary that Ministers continue to display such blindness to local concerns about safety at Aldermaston.

"It is completely inappropriate for this consortium to be given a contract extension of 15 years, when there are continuing concerns about not only the safety record of the companies concerned but also, in the case of BNFL, the viability of the business."