Nuclear papers found on street
Paul Brown, Environment correspondent
Wednesday April 5, 2000
Papers found on a pavement near the Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory in Berkshire reveal secrets about the government's plans to develop new weapons.
The papers, dated March 10, will embarrass the Ministry of Defence because they give targets for nuclear weapons research, development and production, including collaboration with the French and Americans. The government's only official announcement is that it will "maintain a capability" for nuclear weapons.
The new weapons are to replace the 100 kilotonne warheads on Trident submarines. These are five times the size of the Hiroshima bomb and enough to wipe out the centre of Moscow. They are felt to be too big for modern precision warfare.
Smaller warheads with the punch to destroy enemy hardened bunkers are thought to be needed to make Trident more efficient.
The papers also give dates for the nearby Burghfield Trident warhead assembly plant to be closed - mixed up with memos detailing safety lapses.
There was also a handwritten draft explaining how British Nuclear Fuels privatisation plans helped to get it the contract to run Aldermaston, the controversial nuclear bomb making facility. This plan was postponed by the government last Wednesday, but the contract was confirmed on the same day.
The government hoped to raise £1.5bn from the sale of BNFL, which in turn offered to put money into upgrading the A45 building at Aldermaston which purifies highly enriched uranium for Trident nuclear warheads.
Using shareholders money to make a new generation of nuclear weapons was unlikely to make BNFL any more popular, but this promise would probably have been kept secret. The government's official position, given by Helen Liddell, the trade and industry minister, is that BNFL got the contract because of its expertise in clearing up nuclear waste and decommissioning.
The scheme to develop new nuclear weapons has not been announced by the government, which is under pressure to reduce weaponry under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Also among the papers is the programme "to ensure safe, secure and reliable stockpile" of nuclear weapons by next month.
The work plan details the need for new partnerships with universities and secondment and swaps of staff with French and American nuclear weapons laboratories.
The plan also involves assessing the skills of Aldermaston employees to make sure enough experts are retained who are capable of designing new nuclear weapons.
The documents make it clear that Aldermaston is still dismantling warheads from the now defunct Polaris fleet and hopes to develop a plan for dealing with them by next month.
The government's plans to save money on nuclear weapons partly involve cutting the workforce at Aldermaston and Burghfield by 1,400 from 4,500. This has included a plan for closing Burghfield, where the nuclear warheads manufactured at Aldermaston are put together with high explosive to make sure that they blow up correctly on reaching their targets.
Originally the two sites were kept nine miles apart because of the fears of what may go wrong in an accident, but now it has been decided to do the packing at Aldermaston. The work plan says this is supposed to happen in March 2001. This gives time for all the facilities, including safety devices, to be replicated at Aldermaston.
Paul Brown, Environment correspondent
Wednesday April 5, 2000
Papers found on a pavement near the Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory in Berkshire reveal secrets about the government's plans to develop new weapons.
The papers, dated March 10, will embarrass the Ministry of Defence because they give targets for nuclear weapons research, development and production, including collaboration with the French and Americans. The government's only official announcement is that it will "maintain a capability" for nuclear weapons.
The new weapons are to replace the 100 kilotonne warheads on Trident submarines. These are five times the size of the Hiroshima bomb and enough to wipe out the centre of Moscow. They are felt to be too big for modern precision warfare.
Smaller warheads with the punch to destroy enemy hardened bunkers are thought to be needed to make Trident more efficient.
The papers also give dates for the nearby Burghfield Trident warhead assembly plant to be closed - mixed up with memos detailing safety lapses.
There was also a handwritten draft explaining how British Nuclear Fuels privatisation plans helped to get it the contract to run Aldermaston, the controversial nuclear bomb making facility. This plan was postponed by the government last Wednesday, but the contract was confirmed on the same day.
The government hoped to raise £1.5bn from the sale of BNFL, which in turn offered to put money into upgrading the A45 building at Aldermaston which purifies highly enriched uranium for Trident nuclear warheads.
Using shareholders money to make a new generation of nuclear weapons was unlikely to make BNFL any more popular, but this promise would probably have been kept secret. The government's official position, given by Helen Liddell, the trade and industry minister, is that BNFL got the contract because of its expertise in clearing up nuclear waste and decommissioning.
The scheme to develop new nuclear weapons has not been announced by the government, which is under pressure to reduce weaponry under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Also among the papers is the programme "to ensure safe, secure and reliable stockpile" of nuclear weapons by next month.
The work plan details the need for new partnerships with universities and secondment and swaps of staff with French and American nuclear weapons laboratories.
The plan also involves assessing the skills of Aldermaston employees to make sure enough experts are retained who are capable of designing new nuclear weapons.
The documents make it clear that Aldermaston is still dismantling warheads from the now defunct Polaris fleet and hopes to develop a plan for dealing with them by next month.
The government's plans to save money on nuclear weapons partly involve cutting the workforce at Aldermaston and Burghfield by 1,400 from 4,500. This has included a plan for closing Burghfield, where the nuclear warheads manufactured at Aldermaston are put together with high explosive to make sure that they blow up correctly on reaching their targets.
Originally the two sites were kept nine miles apart because of the fears of what may go wrong in an accident, but now it has been decided to do the packing at Aldermaston. The work plan says this is supposed to happen in March 2001. This gives time for all the facilities, including safety devices, to be replicated at Aldermaston.