Launch of HMS Vanguard, Britain's first Trident nuclear submarine
- The Government is investing around £2 billion on the construction of a high-powered laser, new computers, and other facilities at Aldermaston which would be needed to build and test a new warhead.
- In May 2003, the recruitment of 80 specialist scientists started.
- British scientists visited key US nuclear laboratories on 180 occasions last year. In the same period US nuclear experts made 128 separate visits to Aldermaston.
- Parliamentary answers confirm UK and US nuclear scientists are currently on 16 joint working groups, including 'nuclear weapons engineering' and 'nuclear weapon code development'.
- In 2004, the UK renewed the Mutual Defence Agreement, allowing co-operation and exchange of information and technical personnel for research, design, development and the testing of nuclear warheads.
- Furthermore, the Government has authorised officials to begin talks with Washington and with defence companies about a successor to Trident.
The Government argues that the upgraded hydrodynamic and laser facilities are needed so that existing warheads can be maintained safely and reliably without the need for underground testing. However, the massive investment taking place at Aldermaston suggests something different. As a report in the specialist ACRONYM institute suggests:
"That level of safety testing would not require such expensive refurbishment and upgrading of Aldermaston's facilities as the MoD is planning... the upgraded facilities point towards much more sophisticated laboratory testing capabilities than would be needed for stockpile stewardship."
Issue76 March/April: The ACRONYM Institute.
