In 2009 it was revealed that Dounreay nuclear power station in Caithness, Scotland is using a household cleaning product, Cillit Bang, to clean up radioactive plutonium stains from a disused facility. In an astonishing success story of shopfloor innovation, one worker saw a tv ad for the cleaning product in which it was used to strip grime from a coin. The suggestion was trialled and found the £2 cleaner to be more efficient than the industrial products that had so far been in use, attracting interest from other nuclear stations and eating into the £2.6 billion pound cost of demolishing the plant.
Let’s hope the worker whose suggestion has saved all this money is amply rewarded, both by his employers and the Cillit Bang producers.
