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- City's residents shocked and outraged.
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- The operator of a secret nuclear fuel plant in the heart
of one of Britain's major cities has confirmed that it had been told to
address serious safety flaws.
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- In March this year a report by the Nuclear Installations
Inspectorate (NII) criticised the safety procedures at the Rolls-Royce
plant in Raynesway, Derby.
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- The plant, which processes radioactive material for the
Ministry of Defence, carries out work similar to that at the Tokaimura
plant in Japan which was at the centre of a "critical" radiation
leak last month.
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- Rolls-Royce has always said that the marine power division
at Raynesway makes propulsion systems for nuclear submarines, but the delicate
and dangerous operation of processing highly enriched uranium was classified
until now.
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- The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said, after the
accident in Japan, that it was contacted by workers at the Derby plant
who feared a similar disaster.
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- They told CND that the Rolls-Royce plant had no facility
for containing radiation if a serious accident occurred and that there
was no off-site emergency plan to deal with a nuclear accident.
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- A spokesman for Rolls-Royce said that the NII, which
is part of the Heath and Safety Executive (HSE), did find flaws in its
safety procedures.
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- He said: "We have now clarified the position, changed
our procedures and practised them three times.
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- "Last week we had an emergency exercise involving
the emergency services which was observed by the NII. Afterwards, the NII
said it was now satisfied with our procedures."
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- A spokeswoman for the HSE confirmed that there had been
safety concerns at the plant, but would not say what they were.
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