Company comments on explosion near Swindon one year on

Reports of the explosion first came in at around 7.20pm on October 2 last year after lightning struck a digester tank at a Severn Trent Green Power (STGP) waste plant in Cassington, igniting the biogas inside.

The site has three full-time members of staff and recycles around 50,000 tonnes of food waste from Oxfordshire and surrounding areas, turning the gas it produces into renewable electricity and organic fertiliser.

Emergency services rushed to the scene with 40 fire and rescue personnel dealing with the blaze at the height of the fire.

The explosion could be seen by a number of householders across Oxford and surrounding locations who expressed astonishment at the sky being lit up, including motorists travelling on the A34.

Nobody was injured in the explosion as the A40 was closed between Wolvercote and Eynsham for a period, and police urged residents to stay home and shut windows and doors.

The view from Yarnton (Image: Chris Noton) STGP said this week the incident was a rare occurrence and that its teams worked hard to get the site back up and running again.

The gas storage roofs on three of the five anaerobic digestion tanks on site were damaged in the fire along with part of an adjacent building.

After the explosion STGP re-cladded and re-roofed each digester and upgraded them to the latest available materials, the company also confirmed this week. 

The site continued operating with reduced capacity to ensure it was still able to accept food waste for the local authorities and customers.

A recent picture of the site (Image: Severn Trent Green Power)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) did not open a formal investigation into the incident.

Commenting this week, a spokesperson for HSE said: “We carried out a visit to the site following the incident on October 2, 2023.

"That included a detailed review of the health and safety arrangements. As a result, no further action was taken.”

Chief cabinet member and local county and district councillor, Dan Levy, has raised fresh concerns about the railway nearby. 

"My only concern is that the site is quite close to the railway, and I would like reassurance that if a train had been passing, there wouldn't have been any consequences," he said. 

When asked what changes STGP has made to make sure something like this explosion does not happen again, the company said the site was already constructed to all industry standards and operating procedures.

It added that it continues to look for any ways to make improvements to all its operational sites in line with industry best practice.

Fire crews battling explosion (Image: Tom Seaward)Commenting yesterday, Andrew Simm, operations director at Severn Trent Green Power, said: “This was a short-lived incident.

"It was dealt with quickly and safely with the support of the emergency services, who we would like to thank again for all their brilliant help.

"There have been no ongoing ramifications outside of our day-to-day operations.

“Through the hard work of our teams, the facility was back up and running at full capacity earlier in the summer following the repair work to refurbish and replace the digester tank roofs that were damaged in the incident.

"While repairs took place, the facility continued to operate at reduced capacity, ensuring we were still able to accept food waste for the local authorities and customers who rely on our service.”

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue failed to respond to the questions asked by the Oxford Mail.