A FORMER British Nuclear Fuels worker has slammed the firm for giving false assurances that the local plant could stand a plane crash or bomb blast.

Joe McMaster, who worked at Springfields, near Preston, claims that if the site was targeted by terrorists, the effects would be widespread and last for years to come.

Mr McMaster, a chemist at BNFL for 31 years, said: "If it were hit by a bomb or a plane, there would be radioactive materials spread all over the countryside."

And he rejected claims by the firm in last week's Citizen that they only deal in the solid form of uranium. He said the solid pellets of uranium are made of a powder, known as uranium dioxide. "If anything happened when this powder was present, it could become airborne and spread all over," he said.

A spokesman for the Springfields site, Alan Beauchamp, admitted the site did store uranium ore concentrate in granule or powder form, held in manufacturing facilities above the ground.

But he said the firm had assessed the risks and the threat of such an attack, and considered these to be negligible.

He said: "There is a slight possibility that the uranium ore concentrate could become airborne.

"We have increased our state of alert, however, and we don't consider any of our sites under threat. We consider the possibility of a terrorist attack as slight."

BNFL Springfields is five miles from Preston town centre and covers 120 acres including a nature trail used for school visits and a large area of grassland. Around 1800 people, mainly from Preston, Blackpool and Chorley work there.

Conservative MP Michael Jack, whose Fylde constituency includes the Springfields site, said he had recently visited it and was confident the state-owned centre had heightened its security measures against any threat from terrorists.

He also appealed to members of the public to be vigilant, saying: "Everyone has their part to play, the Government cannot beat terrorism alone, they need the help of members of the public."