This morning a high level delegation of Church Leaders and members of the Scottish Parliament were refused a meeting by the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) and turned away by armed police.
The delegation had formally requested a meeting with the Managing Director of AWE to ask why more than a billion pounds is being spent on new facilities and technical staff at Aldermaston despite the fact the government claim not to have made a decision on whether or not to replace Trident (1).
Requests for a meeting inside the base were refused so a further letter was sent requesting a meeting at the gate. Today this too was turned down. The delegation instead read out a list of demands to the government. These included that:
- No further commitment be made to new developments before a decision has been made on whether to replace Trident.
- Government should disclose to Parliament the proposals for developments at AWE including the cost, timescale and purpose of each of the facilities which may be built or refurbished.
- Meantime Trident should not be replaced and no new weapons should be deployed by the UK government.
- More resources at AWE should be focused on disarmament verification and nuclear decommissioning -- in line with Britain's obligations under the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.
The group, which included the Moderator of the Church of Scotland and The Right Hon. Lord Murray, former Lord Advocate, (Scotland's most senior law officer) were then taken on a tour of the outside of the military site, having key new developments pointed out to them.
The Right Reverend Alan McDonald, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland said, "If no decision has been made on whether to replace Trident then why are billions flowing into Aldermaston and why are new hi tech lasers and super computers being installed behind closed doors?"
He continued, "The Government should listen to the findings of Hans Blix's new WMD Report which clearly calls for the UK to refrain from developing new weapons, as such a move would encourage a new arms race."
The AWE in Aldermaston near Reading is where Britain's Trident nuclear weapons are designed and built. From there they travel in convoys to Faslane in Scotland where the Trident submarines that carry the nuclear missiles are based. Developments are currently underway on the site which AWE themselves describe as 'on the scale of Heathrow's Terminal 5 expansion' (2). They strongly suggest that the government has already decided to develop a new generation of UK nuclear weapons. These include:
- Government investment of £1 billion in Aldermaston over the next 3 years and commitment to invest a further £5 billion.
- Preparations to build a new laser, called Orion, which is one thousand times more powerful than the existing one onsite.
- Development of new 'super computers' - capable of simulating nuclear tests and designing new weapons - which will increase the facility's computing power by a factor of nine hundred.
- Plans to build new hydrodynamics test facilities and tritium and highly enriched uranium plants.
- Plans for recruitment of 80 new specialist scientists and advertising for staff to join the 'warhead development centre'.
Following the fact-finding visit the delegation will travel to the House of Commons to meet Hans Blix, who will present the new UN Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Commission report to MPs and the media. The report recommends that nuclear weapons be outlawed completely and highlights how important Britain's decision whether or not to build a new generation of nuclear weapons is to the future of international nuclear disarmament:
"Any state contemplating replacement or modernization of its nuclear-weapon systems must consider such action in the light of all relevant treaty obligations and its duty to contribute to the nuclear disarmament process. As a minimum, it must refrain from developing nuclear weapons with new military capabilities or for new missions. It must not adopt systems or doctrines that blur the distinction between nuclear and conventional weapons or lower the nuclear threshold."
"France and the UK...are now at a crossroads: going down one road would show their conviction that nuclear weapons are not necessary for their security, while the other would demonstrate to all other states a belief that these weapons continue to be indispensable". (3)
The delegation has travelled from Scotland to reflect widespread Scottish opposition to nuclear weapons. Britain's Trident nuclear submarines are currently based at Faslane on the west coast of Scotland. The delegation is being jointly organised by Scottish CND, Greenpeace and the Nuclear Information Service.
(1) A letter requesting a meeting at Aldermaston was sent on May 1st. A reply rejecting the application was received on 2 June. A follow up letter requesting that Don Cook the Managing Director of AWE meet the delegation at the front gate to discuss their concerns was then sent to the facility.
(2) Source AWE Today magazine December 2005.
(3) ) For more on the Blix report visit http://www.wmdcommission.org/. See page 99 for relevant quotes on new UK nuclear weapons.
The delegation includes Bill Butler MSP, Labour; Colin Fox MSP, Leader Scottish Socialist Party; Rev. Kathy Galloway, Leader Iona Community; Robin Harper MSP, Co-leader Scottish Green Party; Mary Alice Mansell, Scottish Quaker General Meeting; Dr Richard McCready, National Secretary Justice and Peace Scotland (Catholic Church); Right Rev. Alan McDonald, Moderator Church of Scotland; Isobel Lindsay Vice Chair Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Lord Ronald King Murray, former Lord Advocate; Matt Smith, Scottish Secretary, UNISON; Sandra White MSP, Scottish National Party; John Ainslie, Coordinator Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Simon Clydesdale Greenpeace; Dr. Rebecca Johnson, The Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy; Philip Austen, Quaker Peace and Social Witness; Di McDonald, Executive Director Nuclear Information Service; Kate Hudson, Chair CND; Richard Maguire, Mountbatten Centre for International Studies.
