Press Releases & Updates 2008

Radical anti-nuclear campaigning group Trident Ploughshares today condemned the announcement by Jacobs Engineering that it has agreed to buy from British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) a one-third stake in AWE ML, the consortium which operates the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. The campaigners have threatened direct action against the company.

US firm Jacobs, already a major contractor at AWE, announced its intentions on Wednesday (17 December). If the deal is confirmed, AWE ML would fall into two-thirds American ownership. The other partners comprising AWE ML are US arms giant Lockheed Martin and British firm Serco.

Daniel Viesnik from Trident Ploughshares said, "Jacobs is making a grave error choosing to invest in AWE. Trident Ploughshares reserves the right to take nonviolent direct action against the company for its role in aiding and abetting crimes against humanity and other breaches of international law and treaties due to its involvement with Trident nuclear weapons. The current multi-billion pound expansion of AWE Aldermaston represents a material breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a criminal waste of taxpayers’ money. All parties responsible will be held to account. Defence Secretary John Hutton must order the immediate suspension of all work relating to the maintenance and development of nuclear warheads, or face the consequences."

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