from The Guardian, 27 November 2011
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is spending £2 billion on new nuclear weapons plants before a formal decision has been taken over whether to replace Trident warheads, according to ministers.
The revelation has prompted fierce attacks on the MoD for making “a complete mockery” of democracy by pre-empting a decision and so attempting to force the hands of future governments.
The ministry, however, argues that part of the investment helps to ensure the safety of the existing Trident warheads. But it accepts that the money also maintains the capability to design a new warhead “should that be required”.
Details of the MoD’s huge investments in plants for putting together and taking apart warheads, making enriched uranium components and high explosives have been unveiled for the first time. The plants are being built at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire.
The most expensive plant, called Mensa, is a £734 million facility for “warhead assembly/disassembly”, a risky but essential maintenance process. Then there is Pegasus, a £634 million highly enriched uranium plant, and Circinus, a £231 million high explosives plant.
Other weapons plants with similarly stellar names but smaller bills – Orion, Gemini, and Leo – are also being built as part of the AWE “site development context plan” covering 2005 to 2015. The costs of two more – Octans and Orchard – are being kept secret for commercial reasons (see table below).
The figures have been released by the defence minister, Peter Luff, in answer to a parliamentary question by the Green MP, Caroline Lucas. Although a few were known from freedom of information requests or other sources, the bulk had previously been kept confidential.
“The fact that the MoD signed off on these costs before a decision has even been made on replacing the Trident warhead makes a complete mockery of the democratic process,” said Lucas.
“It's clear that replacing this extravagant and discredited white elephant project would mean locking the UK into the costly technologies of the past, at a time when we should be developing the realistic defence solutions of the future.”
She called on the government to end the “culture of secrecy” that allowed crucial military spending decisions to be pushed through without proper parliamentary scrutiny. Spending so much on nuclear bombs at a time of economic austerity was also “morally indefensible and economically illiterate”, she said.
The government decided in October last year to postpone a decision on whether to develop a new nuclear warhead until after the next election in 2015. To save money, and to appease the Liberal Democrats, ministers also deferred the main investment decision on replacing the submarines that will carry the warheads.
The postponements followed a Trident “value for money” review, carried out in secret by officials. But a heavily redacted copy of the review has now been released to the anti-nuclear group, Greenpeace, in response to a freedom of information request.
It shows that one of the limits to saving money at AWE was “the very extensive work already completed or underway on many aspects of the warhead programme”. The review considered five options, including postponement, but two of them have been completely blacked out.
According to Peter Burt, from the Nuclear Information Service, the new weapons plants would have a life of at least 40 years. “By spending billions of pounds now, the MoD is trying to force the hands of future governments into developing a new nuclear warhead, regardless of whether it will be necessary or affordable,” he said.
A MoD spokeswoman pointed out that the government was committed to a “continuous at sea nuclear deterrent” based on Trident. “This investment maintains the safety of the current Trident warhead stockpile by sustaining essential facilities and skills,” she said.
“It also helps maintain the capability to design a replacement warhead should that be required following decisions in the next parliament.”
Money being spent on nuclear weapons plants 2005-15
name / function / cost
Mensa / assembling and disassembling warheads / £734m
Pegasus / making enriched uranium components / £634m
Circinus / making high explosives / £231m
Orion / research laser / £183m
Gemini / offices / £78m
Unnamed / buildings and car park / £62m
Leo / making small components / £16m
Octans / research laboratory / kept secret
Orchard / computer building / kept secret
Total / £1.94m plus
source: Hansard
The heavily redacted Trident 'Value for Money' review released by the Uk government to Greenpeace is available to download here (4.1MB pdf).
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