The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

research facility responsible for the

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) with its main site on the former

RAF Aldermaston Royal Air Force Aldermaston or more simply RAF Aldermaston is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Newbury, Berkshire and southwest of Reading, Berkshire, England. Originally built as an RAF Bomber Command airfield during 194 ...

and has major facilities at

Burghfield Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas a ...

, Blacknest and

RNAD Coulport Royal Naval Armaments Depot Coulport, shortened to RNAD Coulport, on Loch Long in Argyll, Scotland, is the storage and loading facility for the nuclear warheads of the United Kingdom's Trident programme. The base, near the village of Coulport ...

. AWE plc, responsible for the day-to-day operations of AWE, is owned by the

and operated as a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

. Until June 2021, AWE plc was owned by a consortium of

Jacobs Engineering Group Jacobs Solutions Inc. is an American international technical professional services firm. The company provides engineering, technical, professional and construction services, as well as scientific and specialty consulting for a broad range of cli ...

Lockheed Martin UK Lockheed Martin UK Limited (LMUK) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, headquartered in London. The company was created on 1 July 1999, combining all of Lockheed Martin's UK operations into one company. Divisions Below is a list of ...

and

Serco Serco Group plc is a British company with headquarters based in Hook, Hampshire, England. Serco primarily derives income as a contractor for the provision of government services, most prominently in the sectors of health, transport, justice, ...

through AWE Management Ltd, which held a 25‑year contract (until March 2025) to operate AWE, although all the sites remained owned by the

Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

which had a

golden share In business and finance, a golden share is a nominal share which is able to outvote all other shares in certain specified circumstances, often held by a government organization, in a government company undergoing the process of privatization and tr ...

in AWE plc. In November 2020, it was announced that the Ministry of Defence had triggered a contractual break point and would take ownership of AWE Plc in July 2021. The establishment is the final destination for the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...

's Aldermaston Marches march from

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The first

Aldermaston March The Aldermaston marches were anti- nuclear weapons demonstrations in the 1950s and 1960s, taking place on Easter weekend between the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire, England, and London, over a distance of fifty- ...

was conceived by the

Direct Action Committee The Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War or the Direct Action Committee (DAC) was a pacifist organisation formed "to assist the conducting of non-violent direct action to obtain the total renunciation of nuclear war and its weapons by Br ...

and took place in 1958.

History

Atomic Weapons Research Establishment

The British nuclear weapons programme, then operating under the project name '

High Explosive Research High Explosive Research (HER) was the British project to develop atomic bombs independently after the Second World War. This decision was taken by a cabinet sub-committee on 8 January 1947, in response to apprehension of an American return ...

' within the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for airc ...

, established operations on 1 April 1950 at the former

airfield. The airfield was constructed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and had been used by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

and the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

's Eighth and

Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...

as a troop carrier (C‑47) group base, and was assigned USAAF station No 467. In 1952, the

project was renamed the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE), with

William Penney William George Penney, Baron Penney, (24 June 19093 March 1991) was an English mathematician and professor of mathematical physics at the Imperial College London and later the rector of Imperial College London. He had a leading role in the ...

appointed as the first director.

Changes in ownership

In 1954 AWRE was transferred to the newly created

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ...

(UKAEA). In 1971 the production activities of UKAEA were transferred to the newly created British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL). In 1973 AWRE was transferred to the Procurement Executive of the

. Parts of AWRE's weapons production processes were carried out at two Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs): ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff. In 1984 these two ROFs were separated from the other ROFs, which were then formed into a government-owned defence company, Royal Ordnance plc and was privatised in 1987. ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff remained within the Procurement Executive and came under the control of AWRE.

The formation of AWE

In 1987, AWRE was combined with ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff to form the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), these sites being renamed AWE Burghfield and AWE Cardiff (the latter was closed in 1997). It remained with the Ministry of Defence, Procurement Executive. However, in 1989, the UK government announced its intention to find a suitable private company to run AWE under a Government Owned/Contractor Operated (GO‑CO) arrangement.

Private management

In 1993 the government awarded a contract to Hunting-BRAE, a consortium of Hunting Engineering, Brown and Root and AEA Technology. During Hunting-BRAE's management AWE decommissioned the RAFs WE177 freefall nuclear bomb. In 1998 the company suffered two prosecutions for safety breaches, one for discharge of

tritium Tritium ( or , ) or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with half-life about 12 years. The nucleus of tritium (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of ...

into a nearby stream and another for an incident where two workers inhaled

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exh ...

. In 1999 Hunting-BRAE lost the contract to AWE Management Ltd (AWE ML), a consortium of

BNFL British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) was a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. It was a manufacturer of nuclear fuel (notably MOX), ran reactors, generated and sold electricity, reprocessed and managed spent fuel (main ...

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

and

. AWE ML's subsidiary, AWE plc, assumed responsibility for the operation of all AWE sites on 1 April 2000. This was not full privatisation as the

continued to own all the AWE sites as well as a

in AWE plc. Critics pointed out that BNFL and Lockheed Martin did not have perfect safety records either. BNFL suffered embarrassing revelations of falsified quality checks in nuclear fuels and Lockheed was the subject of scathing reports on the operation of US nuclear facilities. Lockheed's failings included safety concerns at the Y-12 facility at

Oak Ridge, Tennessee Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson County, Tennessee, Anderson and Roane County, Tennessee, Roane counties in the East Tennessee, eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, Knoxville. Oak Ridge's popu ...

, an American weapons plant similar in certain ways to Aldermaston. In December 2008, the BNFL share in AWE Management Ltd was sold to

, an American engineering services company. Since about 2013 the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has given both AWE sites enhanced regulatory attention due to "safety and compliance concerns, and the continued undertaking of operations in ageing facilities due to delays to the delivery of modern standard replacement facilities." The ONR anticipated AWE would move back to normal regulatory attention in 2021 after the new facilities are completed. Scientists at AWE were involved in testing for radioactive poison after the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. No gamma rays were detected; however, the BBC reported that a scientist at AWE, who had worked on Britain's early atomic bomb programme decades before, recognised a small spike at an energy of 803 kilo-electron volts (keV) as the gamma ray signal from polonium-210, a critical component of early nuclear bombs, which led to the correct diagnosis. Further tests using spectroscopy designed to detect alpha radiation confirmed the result. In July 2015 the Office for Nuclear Regulation issued an improvement notice to AWE demanding that it demonstrate that it has a long-term strategy for managing Higher Active radioactive Waste in order to reduce the risk to the public and its employees. In 2011 a project named MENSA to construct a new warhead assembly and disassembly facility at Burghfield had been approved, to be completed in 2017 at a cost £734 million. In 2020, a National Audit Office report found that costs had increased by £1.07 billion to £1.8 billion and completion date had slipped to 2023. Construction was begun before design had been finalised and risk was not shared with contractors, so they were not incentivised to control costs.

Return to government management

In November 2020, it was announced that the Ministry of Defence had triggered a contractual break point and would take ownership of AWE Plc in July 2021. Sir John Manzoni has been announced as chair-designate, and will formally take on the role of chair of the board on 1 July 2021.

Operations

AWE's responsibilities

AWE is tasked to help the United Kingdom maintain a credible and effective minimum nuclear deterrent: * To maintain the warheads for the

Trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mar ...

nuclear deterrent safely and reliably in service. * To maintain a capability to design a new weapon, should it ever be required. * To complete the dismantling and disposal of redundant warheads replaced by Trident. * To develop the skills, technologies and techniques that could underpin future arms limitation treaties. A significant programme of investment took place over the three-year period from 2005 to 2008, of about £350 million per year, to provide assurance that the existing

Trident missile The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). Originally developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation, the missile is armed with thermon ...

warhead is reliable and safe throughout its intended in-service life. The new facilities and extra supporting infrastructure are required in the absence of live nuclear testing no longer allowed under the

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments. It was adopted by the United Nat ...

AWE co-operates with the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

in the United States and other American nuclear weapons laboratories in carrying out

subcritical In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fissi ...

nuclear tests at the Nevada underground test site to obtain scientific data to maintain the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons.

Subcritical In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fissi ...

tests are not banned by the

on nuclear weapons. The most recent test took place in February 2006. The cost of decommissioning AWE facilities when they become redundant, including

nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons ...

disposal, was estimated at £3.4 billion in 2005.

Safety record

On 3 August 2010 a fire broke out in the explosives processing area at AWE Aldermaston, resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents from their homes. Investigations by a local newspaper revealed that from 1 April 2000, to 5 August 2011, 158 fires broke out at AWE sites, with the fire brigade being called out to deal with alarms on average four times a week over this period. The Health and Safety Executive took the decision to prosecute AWE plc on three charges relating to health and safety after their investigation into the fire in 2010, the first hearing in this case being held on 6 August 2012. On 16 May 2013 AWE pleaded guilty to a single offence contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Security breaches

In 2013 a

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

alerted the authorities to lapses in security caused by misconduct among police officers guarding the base. The MoD said that security was never threatened, but MoD police considered it a "critical" incident. Six officers were dismissed for gross misconduct and 25 resigned.

AWE Blacknest

Formerly part of the

, AWE Blacknest has, for over 40 years, specialised in

forensic seismology Forensic seismology is the forensic use of the techniques of seismology to detect and study distant phenomena, particularly explosions, including those of nuclear weapons. Because of the efficiency with which seismic waves propagate through the Ear ...

, researching techniques to distinguish the seismic signals generated by underground nuclear explosions from those generated by earthquakes. It is approximately 1 mile west of the main AWE site. Blacknest's main function is to develop and maintain expertise in using seismic techniques to detect and identify underground explosions. This expertise and the techniques have been used in the past to provide assessments for the UK government on nuclear explosions carried out by other countries. The expertise is to be used as part of Britain's contribution to the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments. It was adopted by the United Nati ...

which was signed in 1996, but which, as of 2015, has not come into force.

References

External links

*
History of AWE
{{authority control 1950 in military history Aldermaston Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Military history of Berkshire Military research establishments of the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1950 Nuclear research institutes in the United Kingdom Nuclear weapons infrastructure of the United Kingdom Organisations based in Berkshire Research institutes in Berkshire Serco 1950 establishments in the United Kingdom Nuclear history of the United Kingdom