Network of Oxford Women for Justice and Peace: New developments at AWE Aldermaston, and UK treaty obligations under the NPT

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On Saturday 19 February 2005 Sîan Jones gave a talk on the NPT. She has now kindly sent us this slightly modified version:

NEW developments at AWE in the light of UK’s obligations under the NPT

I’m going to present some of the available evidence which suggests that the UK government is preparing to develop the next generation of nuclear weapons, either in the form of a replacement to Trident or in the development of new weapons systems (probably in conjunction with the USA)m which we believe would violate the UK’s UK’s obligations under Article VI of the NPT: “Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.” [1]

1. Government statements

In March 2004, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Bill Rammell MP citing the December 2003 White Paper stated, “Decisions on whether to replace Trident are not needed during this Parliament, but are likely to be required in the next one. We will therefore continue to take appropriate steps to ensure that the range of options for maintaining a nuclear deterrent capability is kept open until that decision point.” [2]

Amplifying this point the Secretary of State for Defence on 19 July 2004, added to this statement “Work on a range of options for maintaining a nuclear deterrent capability is in hand in accordance with the policy set out in last December's Defence White Paper.” [3]

This work referred to was envisaged in the Strategic Defence Review in 1998, which stated: “Following ratification by the United Kingdom in 1998 of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the maintenance of Trident and the capability to build a successor will have to be achieved without conducting nuclear tests. This poses considerable scientific and technical challenges. We are therefore developing a complex science-based programme at AWE that will require special facilities across a variety of disciplines. These are the main drivers for the future development of the Aldermaston site."

2. Developments at AWE Aldermaston

We will present evidence to suggest that the decision has been all-but made, and that plans to build the infrastructure required to support the next generation of nuclear weapons are in place, and that construction of at least one element on this infrastructure will begin in 2005.

The evidence to support this argument relies of a series of separate elements which when taken together, are indicative that practice may well be in advance of declared policy.
In June 2002, the Observer and Guardian reported on plans for new developments at AWE. A spokesperson for AWE told the Guardian that the new facilities would provide Aldermaston with the capacity to design and produce “mini-nukes” [Doc 1]
January 2003: the government announced the extension to 25 years of AWE ML’s ^[5] existing 10 year contract to manage Aldermaston; the value of the contract was increased from £2.3 bn to £5.3 bn. [Doc 3]
October 2003: the Ministry of Defence (MOD) submitted outline plans for the new Orion laser facility [Doc 5] to West Berkshire council; it was approved in December; but in February 2004, the MoD withdrew this planning notice in the face of a threat of legal challenge. April 2004: NOPD for outline planning permission for the Orion laser facility was resubmitted, and subsequently passed unanimously by the Thatcham Parish Council Planning Committee on 23 June 2004 . Construction was then expected to start in spring 2005, with an estimated completion date of 2007 [Doc 6].

6 August 2004 , an NOPD was submitted by the MoD for an Explosives Fabrication Facility; the NOPD was withdrawn on 10 August 2004[Doc 7].

September 2004, preparatory work appears to have begun on the site of the proposed laser facility in advance of the granting of full planning permission. The contractor Golder Associates, specialises in ground engineering; it is assumed that they have been brought it to carry out investigations into ground-water/drainage on the site which was identified as an environmental problem in objections presented to the planning committee.

In December, we were informed by AWE ml that the plans for the laser had been submitted to the Ministry of Defence for final approval; as yet the laser has not been submitted for final planning approval; at the same time, Awe submitted two further applications, one for office accommodation for up to 150 contractors and staff and the other for two large IT buildings, which we think will contain new servers – although it is possible that this may be linked to the proposal for a new supercomputer (the buildings are both to be built with blast proof walls and a steel lining). Assuming the NOPDs are approved, then delivery of the modular construction for these three buildings will start in mid February.

Although each of these elements could, as AWE and the government state, as some scientists suggest, be used merely for the stockpile stewardship operations, we suggest that – taken with government statements in s. 1 – it is more likely that they represent a substantial investment in facilities to assist in the design and development of new systems.

We note that the Trident system took 14 years to complete, from decision to deployment. Trident was brought into service in 1994, and has a life-span of 30 years, to 2024. Although there are arguments that this may be extended, if the same timescale were envisaged, work on a replacement system would have to begin by 2010. -[6]

3. The Mutual Defence Agreement

Under the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement, scientists at Aldermaston regularly take part in exchanges and experiments with their counterparts at nuclear facilities in the US. [7]

The exchange of technical information on warhead matters takes place regularly in Joint Working Groups and through exchange of information and visit reports between AWE and the US. Warhead materials for research are exchanged by air via RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

In 2002 313 AWE scientists visited 25 US institutions including Dept. of Defence, laboratories, arms companies and other sites including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, National Nuclear Security Administration Headquarters, Bechtel Nevada and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space. 485 scientists from 19 US sites made reciprocal visits to AWE.^'>[8]>

With the exception of the now decommissioned WE-177 free fall bomb, all UK systems – including the current Trident system – have, since 1958 been developed in conjunction with the US under the MDA (see para 1.7, Briefing paper).

US nuclear policy and practice may indicate that AWE Aldermaston may be involved in the research and development of low-yield “useable” nuclear weapons; we do not know what the impact of the decision to deny funding for the US for research into the development of RNEPs or “bunker busters” . Significantly, approval for the development of “low-yield” weapons was blocked in Congress until earlier this year.

This would suggest that the new facilities at Aldermaston could be used to assist in the design and development process of

Either a successor to the Trident D-5 warhead

And/or

A low yield “useable” nuclear weapon

[1] For the UK Government’s position, see e.g. Hansard, HL Debates, 12 February 1997, Col 240 where Baroness Chalker of Wallasey (Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office) stated: “we remain committed to pursuing nuclear disarmament under our international obligations, including Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Nuclear disarmament measures cannot be divorced from the broader global security context.”

[2] Hansard, HC Debates, 16 March 2004, Col 297; see also Briefing Paper, para.1.32

[3] Hansard, PQ 184480.

[4] The Site Development Strategy Plan includes four elements which, combined together, would enable AWE to design, test and build new weapons:

The new laser facility, which will replace the existing HELEN laser, with "the UK's own national laser facility", and enable the testing of nuclear materials under simulated test conditions;
The new hydrodynamics facility will enable test data to equal that previously only available from underground nuclear tests;
The new material science laboratories will also provide underground-test quality diagnosis of weapons' materials;
A new supercomputer will be able to transpose test data into mathematical models of warhead performance, and is already in place; another is planned.
AWE does not need to build new production facilities. The A90 warhead production complex (built during the Trident programme) can be used to build and service nuclear warheads for many years ahead. The skills and equipment to build small nuclear weapons also exist. The new developments provide the means to test new weapons, Disarmament Diplomacy, bi-monthly journal of The Acronym Institute, Volume 76, March/April 2004.

^[5] Aldermaston is run as a government-owned, contractor-operated company. The current contractors, AWE ml, comprise British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), Lockheed Martin and Serco. The UK government retains the “golden share” in the company, AWE plc.

[6] Options for a new generation weapon detonated by a relatively small thermonuclear explosion could be perfected at laboratory level in 10-15 years, Disarmament Diplomacy, Volume 76, March/April 2004.

[7] For example, on 14th February 2002 the Los Alamos National Laboratory carried out an underground sub-critical test at the Nevada test site in which one of the super computers at AWE was used in analysing the data.

[8] Reply to parliamentary question, to Alan Simpson, MP 2003

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