Press Releases & Updates 2007

The inspectors were dressed in white protective suits clearly marked Weapons Inspector. They sought to inspect the following :

  Serco, BNFL, and Lockheed Martin, who jointly manage Atomic Weapons Establishment Aldermaston (AWE) where a replacement for the Trident nuclear missile system is being developed.
  Rolls Royce, who make the nuclear propulsion plant s for the Trident submarines,
  Rio Tinto who mine the uranium which is used to both to make nuclear weapons and to drive the submarines,
  BAE Systems who design and build the submarines and are suspected of pressing the Government to replace Trident in order to safeguard and increase the value of their investment,
  Raytheon a US company who build nuclear missiles.

The work on planning to replace or upgrade Trident puts the UK Government and the corporations is in material breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), in force since 1970 and to which the UK is a signatory. This committed the UK to work actively for the decommissioning of its Nuclear weapons. AWE are also seeking to circumvent prohibitions on the testing of nuclear weapons under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty by constructing the Orion laser at Aldermaston. After their endeavours to investigate breaches of UK Treaty and International Law obligations they sought to present their results to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The level of security alert was promptly raised when they approached the King Charles Street premises.

Each corporation was served with a document outlining the terms of the days inspection, in line with those to which Iraq was required to submit prior to the 2003 invasion. The only two companies willing to co-operate with the inspectors were Rolls Royce and Rio Tinto, whose slick PR reps eventually presented themselves for questioning. When the inspectors in their white suits demanded entry to conduct an inspection at the reception desk of Rio Tinto the man on reception, without raising an eyebrow, phoned up to say. "The Nuclear Weapons Inspectors have arrived. Please send somebody down to speak to them". Rolls Royce offices were effectively closed for visitors, including business people arriving for a lunch time meeting, for over an hour before the inspectors completed their questioning of a representative. The remainder of the corporations both refused to speak to the inspectors and denied them access to their facilities, thus heightening concerns about the legality of their operations. Most of the companies concerned did, however, agree to provide information in writing at a later date.

As of the start of April 2006, only Rio Tinto have written. They have denied all involvement in Trident or its replacement. All the Corporations appear to be in a hight state of denial of their complicity in the production of weapons of mass destruction. Having failed to allow the inspectors in BAE was taped off and closed as a Nuclear Weapons Crime Scene for about 15 minutes.

Any people’s weapons inspectors wishing to do spot checks for breaches of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are welcome to contact the Muriel Lesters for an update. 07890 124276.

The two reports from the Weapons Inspectors may be downloaded here and here (both in PDF format).

Photos from the inspection are available here.

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