Aldermaston

Aldermaston Chief Scientist Dr Clive Marsh makes the remarkable admission that Aldermaston is being equipped to build a new bomb. He states that one of his team's main tasks is "to develop our overall warhead design and assurance capabilities, including the ability to provide a new warhead lest our government should ever need it as a successor to Trident. Most of our research is conducted in this capability area."

His admission is utterly at odds with ministers' statements in the House of Commons. On 22 May 2006 Defence Secretary Des Browne told the House of Commons: "The Atomic Weapons Establishment is not engaged in the development of any new warheads."

In February 2006 Blair said, "It is a huge decision for the country and it will probably be done in a far more open way than the decisions have been taken before." Developing a new weapon would, according to expert advice from Cherie Booth's Matrix chambers, be a material breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• aldermaston
• nuclear
• weapons
• awe
• bomb
• uk

[C4eye]

This is pretty disturbing, but can we have the rest of the interview please

[GreenpeaceUK]

This clip is an excerpt from a promotional video on the AWE site encouraging scientists to come and work at Aldermaston. Unsurprisingly it was removed from the site shortly after we grabbed a clip and posted it up here...

[AdamJamesWalker86]

"...the ability to provide a new warhead lest our government should ever need it as a successor to Trident."

Of course they are going to retain the facilities to develop a new weapon should they need to, it's not an admission of anything. Any political situation in the future which may require the development and production of a new warhead would be very grim times for the world indeed and you can safely bet that any other nuclear states involved would too.

[luckieian]

These scientists do a job that we need, i dont want the uk to be the only nation without the big stick. The pressure groups who put this video on youtube only allowed us to see a little bit of this video, they didnt think we had the brains to make up our own mind. But we have and were saying we need the bomb, no one is desperate to use it so take peace in that thought.

[bubbles867]

The NPT is a treaty signed by the nuclear powers saying that one day they will limit there nuclear weapons production and stocks in there arsenals , it doesnt say anything about decommisioning warheads that are transfered to be used as a nuclear reactor on a sub or nuke power station , they are merely replacing the ones that have been decommisioned.

[slowdazzles]

Hmm, so the UK is signed up to the NPT and has made a committment not to develop any new warheads - yet here's Aldermaston's Chief Scientist recruiting for new personel to do (amongst other things) exactly that.

Oh, but that's ok, because he's also interested in "increasing the safety" of warheads.

What pathetic bullshit this is - really, desperarately worrying. We've been lied too for decades by successive governments about WMD - get rid of the fucking things now!

[huntmatuk]

That used to be the case, but now it is a "dry" site.

[ManDinner]

Greenpeace cut the video because he goes on to talk about research into detecting breaches of the NPT and increasing the safety of warheads, and as always pressure groups only want you to hear one side.

[flegsiboy]

What their team does is take three hour lunch breaks get totely slawtared,then go back to work off their face.

[metallica2rule]

yer then wen we get ride of all our weapons and most other countrys still have theres wat happens if theres a war involving us well be fucked and u will be thefirst people to complain thats mostly all you can doo¬!!!!!!!!!!!!

[C4eye]

VERY interesting! Still seems a bit odd the clip cuts out half way through (what sounds like it's going to be) the word "area"... is this just scrappy editing, or was there more that we ought to hear?

Check out the "March to Aldermaston" film, just released by the BFI on the "Free Cinema" triple DVD. Keep up the brilliant work by the way...