Greenpeace investigation reveals PM's hypocrisy
Greenpeace today publishes proof that the UK government is constructing facilities to build a new nuclear bomb. The clandestine move breaks the international Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and undermines the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. It also breaks the Prime Minister's promise that the country would have a debate before a new generation of British nuclear weapons was developed.
A new report reveals testimony by US nuclear weapons scientists that new high tech facilities at Aldermaston are for designing and building new nuclear weapons. The Ministry of Defence has repeatedly claimed that the new facilities are necessary solely for the maintenance of existing weapons.
The new report also features the transcript of an interview that until now has only been seen by potential employees on Aldermaston's website, in which Aldermaston Chief Scientist Dr Clive Marsh makes the remarkable admission that Aldermaston is being equipped to build a new bomb. He states in the video that one of his team's main tasks is "to develop our overall warhead design and assurance capabilities, including the ability to provide a new warhead lest our government should ever need it as a successor to Trident. Most of our research is conducted in this capability area." You can view this clip here.
These revelations are utterly at odds with Ministers' statements in the House of Commons. On 19th July 2005 then Defence Secretary John Reid stated that "The purpose of this investment of some £350 million over each of the next three years is to ensure that we can maintain the existing Trident warhead stockpile throughout its intended in-service life." Then on 22 May 2006 Defence Secretary Des Browne told the House of Commons: "The Atomic Weapons Establishment is not engaged in the development of any new warheads."
In February 2006 Blair said, "It is a huge decision for the country and it will probably be done in a far more open way than the decisions have been taken before." Developing a new weapon would, according to expert advice from Cherie Booth's Matrix chambers, be a material breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The £1 billion building work at Aldermaston will allow for the 'virtual' development of new weapons. Facilities currently under construction include Orion - one of the most powerful lasers in the world, new supercomputers and 'hydrodynamic facilities' which study how plutonium reacts when blown up with high explosives.
The report highlights concerns that developing new nuclear weapons not only breaks Blair's pledge that the country will debate the issue before a decision is made, but will also inevitably lead to the return of full scale nuclear testing.
Greenpeace Campaign Director Blake Lee Harwood said, "We've got proof that the Prime Minister has misled the nation on the Britain's WMD. These revelations prove that his promised debate was a sham. The government is pretending to consult but they've already given the nod to a new nuclear weapons system costing billions of pounds. In a single move Tony Blair has broken the Non Proliferation Treaty and his promise to the country."
The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty compels countries to move towards disarming their nuclear arsenals. The report argues that the Aldermaston development will also ultimately break the Comprehensive Test Ban treaty, as virtually designed nuclear bombs will inevitably require full-scale nuclear testing.
Greenpeace is urging the government to not replace Trident, and to take existing Trident submarines off patrol while storing the warheads onshore in an internationally monitored facility.
Blake Lee Harwood continued, "Building new nuclear weapons at a time when the UK faces no foreseeable nuclear threat and when the international community is trying to prevent other countries developing their own is incredibly inflammatory. Britain should announce it will not build a new nuclear weapons system to replace Trident. This would have a dramatic effect on the international disarmament regime and help stop the slide towards a new nuclear arms race. How can we preach at Iran when we have our own secret weapons programme?"
ENDS
For more information video or photos contact Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.
Copies of the report are available online at http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/BritainsNewBomb
