Cost Cutting Threatens Australian Nuclear Reactor Safety

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Cost Cutting Threatens Australian Nuclear Reactor Safety – Report

RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED 28.07.2014

Six permanent frontline safety supervisor positions will be outsourced at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO), The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

“What ANSTO is considering is whether someone with the skills and training of a police officer is the right person to monitor CCTV cameras and the like, or if that function can be performed instead by a specialist contractor,” an ANSTO spokesman said, The Daily Telegraph reported.

“As the public expects, if a support service can be more efficiently and equally effectively delivered another way, in this economic climate we can, and indeed should, consider it,” he added.

The Australian Federal Police will, however, retain a 24-hour armed presence at the facility.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has opposed the decision to replace senior level safety inspectorate.

“This is in no way an improvement to safety at Sydney’s only nuclear facility, this is a decision to wind back the safety protections purely on the basis of costs,” Tim Ayres, the union’s state secretary, was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.

“This sends a message that safety is a second-order issue. It will set the safety culture back,” Ayres said.

The newspaper noted that yesterday ANSTO said all contracted safety supervisors were to receive radiation safety training, and that existing response staff would oversee emergency radiation incidents.

Topics: Safety, Australia

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