Atomic Weapons Establishment

AWE construction programme continues to make headway

AWE construction programme continues to make headway

By Nuclear Information Service Date: 30 January 2013   Significant progress has been made in delivering the major projects programme at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), with three key new facilities on schedule for handover to operational managers next year. A new high explosives fabrication facility at AWE Aldermaston, a small components precision manufacturing facility at Burghfield, and a hydrodynamics Technology Development Centre at Aldermaston - part of the Anglo-French ‘Teutates’ project - are all scheduled to…

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Secret UK uranium components plant closed over safety fears

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Rob Edwards The Guardian, Thursday 24 January 2013 Guardian Exclusive: regulators report steel corrosion at Aldermaston plant, which makes enriched uranium components for nuclear warheads   A top-secret plant at Aldermaston that makes enriched uranium components for Britain’s nuclear warheads and fuel for the Royal Navy’s submarines has been shut down because corrosion has been discovered in its “structural steelwork”, the Guardian can reveal. The closure has been endorsed by safety regulators who feared the…

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£2 billion and rising: the cost of redeveloping the Atomic Weapons Establishment

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  The Ministry of Defence has pledged at least £2 billion of spending on new developments at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), according to new information released in response to a Parliamentary Question from Caroline Lucas MP. The answer, which exposes the true scale of development at AWE, gives a breakdown of the costs for a number of new-build projects which are intended to keep the current Trident warhead in service and, if a future…

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AWE

AWE plc is owned by a consortium of Jacobs Engineering Group, Lockheed Martin UK and Serco through AWE Management Ltd who hold a 25 year contract (until March 2025) to operate AWE. All AWE sites remain owned by the UK government who also hold a Golden Share in AWE plc. The company is based close to Aldermaston (although the nearest town is Tadley in Hampshire), with major facilities at Burghfield. AWE has two major sites, both based in Berkshire: AWE Aldermaston and AWE Burghfield. The company’s headquarters is AWE Aldermaston, which covers…

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AWE Burghfield

Burghfield_Gerties_from_Fullers_Lane

AWE Burghfield, a former munitions factory, occupies a 225 acre site between Aldermaston and Reading. It is responsible for the complex final assembly and maintenance of the warheads while in service, as well as their decommissioning. Unlike AWE Aldermaston with multiple entrances and exits, AWE Burghfield only has two gates. The main entrance gate is in The Mearings, off Reading Road, Burghfield. The second gate is on Burnthouse Lane. Nuclear Warhead and nuclear materials convoys…

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Aldermaston

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AWE Aldermaston is the central facility of the British nuclear weapon establishment. It is officially located at Aldermaston, near Reading, in Berkshire, although the main entrances are in the nearby village of Tadley. This facility not only performs most research activities, it also develops weapon designs, and manufactures the majority of weapon components, including nuclear components. It was officially established 1 April 1950 on the site of a World War II airfield. Weapons development work…

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Ken Loach

“Spending £100 billion on replacing Trident is a catastrophic folly. I’m sure I am one of many who support the those, like Action-AWE, who campaign actively and imaginatively against it”

– Ken Loach

John Hurt

".....the government has pledged to rebuild a new generation of British nuclear weapons at enormous cost and at a time when social services budgets including those for health and education are being drastically cut. Having nuclear weapons doesn't make us safer, it just brings the possibility of nuclear conflict ever closer. We need to protect this planet not put it at even more risk of destruction. We all have a voice so please use yours and join me in supporting ACTION AWE." John Hurt
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