Aldermaston
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston is the home of Trident warhead production, maintainance, research and development.
There will be a TP Blockade of Aldermaston at Easter 2007 (10th April).
We are also supporting the Block the Builders campaign against the new developments at Aldermaston and the Aldermaston Watch camps.
Aldermaston is owned by the British government’s
Ministry of Defence, but since the early 1990s has been a
Government Owned - Contractor Operated
(GOCO) company. This means that while the
Ministry of Defence owns the site, it contracts private companies to manage and carry out Aldermaston’s work.
AWE Burghfield - Aldermaston’s partner site, located about
seven miles away, is part of the same company
Since 1 April 2000. Aldermaston has been managed by
AWE ML (managament ltd), a consortium of three companies:
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), US arms producers
Lockheed Martin and the facilities management company
Serco.
Recent Developments:
New-build at AWE Aldermaston
In August 2002 AWE published the “Aldermaston Site
Development Strategy Plan 2002” outlining a number of
new facilities they hope to develop on the site.
You can read the full document
here. Plans include new laser, computer
and laboratory facilities, prompting various anti-nuclear
groups to speculate on the possibility of a new generation
of nuclear weapons being developed in the near future.
This appears to be a strong possibility given the May 2003
announcements by AWE of around 300 new scientists
being employed at the site, including nuclear physicists.
New home for the Convoy
In 2002, the green Foden nuclear warhead convoys
moved to garages at AWE Aldermaston, leaving their former
site at RAF Witterring. Convoys are now escorted by
Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) - under naval command - rather than by the RAF, as previously. According to
Nukewatch estimates, during 2001 six of these TCHD
(Truck Cargo Heavy Duty) nuclear warhead carriers delivered
warheads from Coulport to AWE for servicing or
stockpile checks, with three deliveries (nine carriers) back
to Coulport. This would suggest that a regular programme
of refurbishment has been established.
Blue Special Nuclear Materials Convoys also leave
Aldermaston - the majority of which travel between
Aldermaston and Burghfield. Other SNM convoys deliver
nuclear materials to Aldermaston (such as Tritium from Chapelcross) or take nuclear materials from
Aldermaston. Highly enrished unranium is taken to Rolls
Royce Derby for use in the production of new fuel plates
for refitting Trident’s reactor during HMS Vanguard’s
ongoing refit in Devenport dockyard.
AWE takes part in nuclear tests
Aldermaston retains the capacity for developing a new generation
of nuclear weapons, should the British government
decide to upgrade/replace Trident at some point in
the future. On 14 February 2002 AWE Aldermaston took
part in an underground sub-critical nclear test carried out
at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the USA. This violates
the 13 point action plan agreed at the 2000 NPT
Review Conferenc, which included a moratorium on
nuclear weapons explosions, or any other nuclear explosion.
AWE: new facilities for testing
On 22 February 2002, the Guardian reported that AWE
had been given approval to conduct nuclear explosions
on site, and that an application had been made to build
new facilities for further tests or explosions involving
nuclear materials, including plutonium. The purpose of
the new facility would be “not only to maintain the safety
of Britain’s nuclear arsenal.... but to ensure it would
work if used, and to keep the door open for the design
and construction of a new generation of nuclear
weapons”.
see also Aldermaston Womens Peace Camp(aign)
Latest press releases about Aldermaston
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Trident Ploughshares,
0845 45 88 366
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