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11th December 2024 -
Fifty years a Lifeboatman
David Corben’s talk is a personal story of his involvement with the Swanage Lifeboat
over the last 53 years -
David is at pains to emphasise that his experiences are not unique and are reflected in any one of the 5,600 crew at the 238 lifeboat stations throughout the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
He provides a vivid account of the Swanage Lifeboat Station, which will be celebrating
its 150th anniversary next year -
The talk includes videos of actual rescues that David was involved in and provides an insight into the workings of this fantastic rescue organisation with the vast technological changes that have taken place that affect the efficiency and safety of the crews engaged in what is fundamentally extremely dangerous work.
Wednesday in December
15th January 2025 -
The Ambulance Down in the Valley –
Nuclear Accidents and Contingency Planning
In the nuclear industry, safety is of paramount importance and very detailed procedures and regulations are in place to ensure the safety of any nuclear plant.
However, over the decades there have been a small number of serious nuclear accidents, in particular: Windscale in 1957, Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011.
Alan’s talk will cover the causes and effects of these accidents. It will also cover what countermeasures can be taken to mitigate the effects of any accidents and how nuclear sites, whilst safety of the plant is always of foremost importance, will also have detailed contingency plans to deal with major accidents, no matter how unlikely they are to occur.
Alan Neal is a physicist who has 40 years’ experience of working in the nuclear industry, initially in radiation safety roles and then in nuclear site management roles.
In 1985 Alan moved to the UKAEA’s site at Winfrith where he remained for most of his career, becoming the Head of Site in 1998, after which he became responsible for the decommissioning of both the Harwell and Winfrith Nuclear Sites. He ended his career as Site Director of the Berkeley Nuclear Site.
