Recent developments at the Atomic Weapons Establishment
Summary
This House of Commons Library Standard Note examines the investment programme and governance changes at the UK Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston and Burghfield. It details the development of new testing and simulation facilities, including the ORION laser project and supercomputing capabilities, while addressing political debate over a potential Trident successor warhead. The briefing also analyses the sale of BNFL’s one-third stake in AWE Management Ltd to US-based Jacobs Engineering Group and the surrounding controversy regarding foreign ownership and parliamentary notification.
Overview and Introduction
Recent developments at the Atomic Weapons Establishment Standard Note: SN/IA/05024 Last updated: 24 March 2009 Author: Stephen Jones Section: International Affairs and Defence Section
In July 2005 the Government announced a new programme of investment for the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston, where the UK’s nuclear warheads are built and maintained. Specific programmes include the development of a new laser facility, known as ORION, and a replacement hydrodynamics testing facility. The Government says the new facilities are required to ensure the safety and reliability of the existing stockpile and to ensure the UK has the capacity, if required, to develop a replacement warhead in the future. It says the current warhead design deployed on the UK’s Trident ballistic missile submarines is likely to last into the 2020s, and that decisions on whether to refurbish or replace the existing stockpile are likely to be necessary in the next Parliament.
This note provides details on the new investment programme and looks at the ORION laser and replacement hydrodynamics testing facilities. It also examines some of the issues raised by anti-nuclear campaigners. In addition, it analyses the new ownership arrangements at AWE Management Ltd (AWEML), the consortium which manages AWE on behalf of the government, which resulted from the decision by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) to sell their one-third stake in AWEML to the US-based Jacobs Engineering Group on 18 December 2008.
1 Background
The infrastructure for building and maintaining British nuclear warheads is located at the two government-owned and contractor-operated Atomic Weapons Establishment sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire. The Government has a contract with AWE Management Ltd, while a separate company, AWE plc, employs the work force. Figures from January 2007 show that AWE plc, as primary contractors, were employing 3,990 staff at Aldermaston and 331 at Burghfield, while there were an additional 2,000 people employed through various contracting arrangements to support operations at both sites.
The Government said in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review White Paper that it would retain a robust capability at AWE Aldermaston to “underwrite the safety and reliability of our nuclear warheads, without recourse to nuclear testing”, adding that it considered it would be “premature to abandon a minimum capability to design and produce a successor to Trident should this prove necessary.” That position was reiterated in the December 2003 Defence White Paper and in subsequent PQs, with the Government saying it would seek “sustainment of capabilities” at Aldermaston.
2 The new investment programme at AWE
2.1 The announcement of the new investment programme A new programme of investment at the Aldermaston and Burghfield facilities was announced by the then Defence Secretary, John Reid, on 19 July 2005: “[A]greement has been reached with AWE Management Ltd. (AWE ML) to take forward a programme of investment in sustaining key skills and facilities at the Atomic Weapons Establishment. This will include the provision of necessary extra supporting infrastructure. […] 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. In the absence of the ability to undertake live nuclear testing given that the UK has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, it is necessary to invest in the facilities at AWE which will provide assurance that the existing Trident warhead stockpile is reliable and safe.”
Details of MoD expenditure on Aldermaston were provided in a PQ answer of October 2005: “The contract between the Ministry of Defence and Atomic Weapons Establishment Management Limited commenced in April 2000. Annual expenditure at the Establishment since then, and that projected for 2005-06 to 2007-08, is as follows:
Atomic weapons establishment annual expenditure (as at October 2005, £ million, 2005-06 prices): 2000-01: £311 million 2001-02: £291 million 2002-03: £278 million 2003-04: £300 million 2004-05: £363 million 2005-06: (1)£507 million [(1) Forecast]
On current planning we expect expenditure at the Atomic Weapons Establishment to be a total for the next two financial years (2006–07 and 2007–08) of around £1.5 billion.”
A Parliamentary Answer from October 2006 provided a more detailed breakdown: “The currently planned capital expenditure at the two AWE sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield is in the order of £340 million in 2006-07 and £420 million for 2007-08, both at outturn prices.”
The then defence Minister Adam Ingram said in a Parliamentary Answer of 5 February 2007: “Details of investment at AWE for the period beyond 2007-08 will be determined over the next year, following this year’s comprehensive spending review. As the White Paper, ‘The Future of the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Deterrent’ published in December 2006, made clear, further investment at AWE will be necessary and early in the next decade the costs of AWE are likely—at their peak—to be the equivalent of about 3 per cent. of the current defence budget.”
Further details on the main investment areas were provided by the MoD in a January 2006 Memorandum to the Defence Committee, outlining high performance computer simulation, hydrodynamics, and high energy density physics as core activities to assure warhead safety without live testing. It also detailed plans to refurbish basic assembly/disassembly infrastructure, handle high explosives and highly enriched uranium, and recruit approximately 350 staff per annum through 2007/08.
2.2 Successor warhead?
The then Defence Secretary, John Reid, stated on 21 March 2006 that there was currently “no programme at Aldermaston to develop a new warhead”, reiterated by his successor Des Browne in June 2006. The MoD noted in January 2006 that the current warhead design could last into the 2020s with minor refurbishment.
The December 2006 White Paper (Cm 6994) indicated that decisions on refurbishing or replacing the warhead would likely be needed in the next Parliament, informed by ongoing review and bilateral activities under the 1958 UK-US Mutual Defence Agreement. Commentators have debated whether new research might facilitate low-yield precision warheads, while the UK maintains its testing moratorium under the CTBT.
2.3 Specific Programmes at Aldermaston
Supercomputers: Hydrodynamics and laser facilities provide data for supercomputing simulations. Following the 3-teraflop IBM supercomputer “Blue Oak” delivered in 2001, a 41-teraflop machine named “Larch” was commissioned in summer 2006, delivering over 20 times the throughput of Blue Oak.
ORION Laser Facility: Replacing the HELEN laser operating for ~25 years, ORION aims to replicate high temperature/pressure plasma conditions of nuclear detonations at laboratory scale. Project Orion had a maximum contract value of £183 million, receiving planning approval in January 2006 with a five-year construction timetable. It also offers experimental access to academic researchers.
Hydrodynamics testing: Studies the behaviour of materials subjected to explosive shock. The government planned to expand scientists in this field from 70 to 95 and proceed with a replacement facility (reportedly the Core Punch Facility), investing ~£5–6 million annually.
2.4 Criticisms
Critics and NGOs like Greenpeace argue that new hydrodynamics and laser facilities are unnecessary for simple stockpile maintenance and are instead intended to design new warheads, potentially undermining the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Greenpeace advocated an engineering-based “curatorship” approach (routine inspection and replacement of identical components) over “science-based stockpile stewardship”. Other experts, such as Frank Barnaby, suggested that the primary objective of advanced facilities like ORION might be retaining top scientific talent at AWE.
3 Ownership arrangements at AWE
3.1 Original ownership arrangements: AWE operates under a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GO-CO) model. While sites and assets remain state-owned, management was awarded in 2000 (and extended in 2003 to 25 years until 2025) to AWE Management Ltd (AWEML), originally an equal-share consortium of BNFL, Lockheed Martin, and Serco. AWE plc employs the workforce and holds site licences, with the MoD holding a “golden share”.
3.2 BNFL’s decision to sell its stake in AWE Management Ltd: On 16 July 2007, BNFL announced the planned sale of its one-third stake, which was finalized on 18 December 2008 to US-based Jacobs Engineering Group.
3.3 Concerns about the new ownership arrangements: Critics and opposition MPs raised concerns that two US companies (Jacobs and Lockheed Martin) now hold a two-thirds controlling majority in AWEML, querying the strategic independence of the UK deterrent and criticizing the lack of prior parliamentary debate.
3.4 Recent Statements and Parliamentary Questions: Ministers (including Pat McFadden MP, Baroness Taylor, and Lord Mynes) confirmed that the sale followed competitive procedures and that UK sovereign control remains fully protected via the MoD’s special share in AWE plc and ownership of all physical sites and assets.