Because the MOD had not installed a wholebody monitor at AWRE , when the contamination was discovered , it was necessary for staff to be sent to other establishments , such as Harwell and Winfrith , for whole-body monitoring . Routine PAS was introduced , but this was not an easy task as hundreds of papers had to be processed each evening , and counted ready for the next morning .
Quite rightly , all workers were concerned whether they had been exposed and wanted to see their dosimetry records . So the small group of health physicists had to show hundreds of individuals through their records , many recorded on hand-written index cards .
A total of 12 staff from across the site were found to have significant intakes , but the majority had already been identified as they were associated with known incidents . Three
Report from Reading Evening Post , Nov 1978 , British Newspaper Archives
Radiation Protection Today Summer 2021 ladies in the laundry were identified as having received small intakes ( now considered significant ) from their work .
To implement the Inquiry recommendations , the Health Physics Group recruited a large number of surveyors . Management of monitoring staff was transferred to the Health Physicists , equipment was procured , and infrastructure set up to manage the people , their training and equipment . There were so many trainee surveyors studying City & Guilds in Radiation Safety Practice that Newbury College set up its own course . The Health Physics Department grew from 43 staff to 250 over the coming years .
Existing facilities were upgraded , new changerooms built and ventilation monitoring was improved . New buildings were planned to replace old facilities , and the laundry was permanently closed and decommissioned , with the site switching to disposable coveralls .
Although the Inquiry made it sound as though AWRE was in rather a poor state , in reality the facilities were no worse than those at other establishments . The issues highlighted by Pochin led to greater awareness , and a raising of standards across the whole nuclear sector .
Sir Edward Pochin was awarded Honorary Fellowship of SRP in 1970 .
Retired Members – Your Input Requested ! Do you have a story to tell from your working life that you would like to submit for publication ? Please email us on RPToday @ srp-uk . org .
Other activities for Retirees Feedback indicates that a number of you would like to see a Retiree Group which perhaps includes a regular get-together linked to the SRP Annual Conference ; it would also be a mechanism for providing an update on what others are doing . We will look at how we may progress this . If you have any suggestions or wish to help please do get in touch .
17