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AWE uranium store will cost £750 million




Information Commissioner rules true cost of controversial uranium facility should be revealed to taxpayer

A CONFIDENTIAL report has shown £750 million of taxpayers money is to be put towards the new enriched uranium store at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Aldermaston.

The Ministry of Defence report UK Enriched Uranium (EU) Capability Investment Appraisal, Project Pegasus, outlines the cost of the new facility which will replace the current store which has sat at the site for nearly 60 years.

A heavily censored version of the report was published earlier this year following freedom of information requests, but the Information Commissioner has ruled that the edited parts, which hid the £747m investment cost of the project, should now be made public.

Now the cost of the project is in the public domain questions have been raised over the accountability of AWE to the taxpayer given a recent announcement by defence secretary Liam Fox that over 1,000 naval jobs would be axed as part of looming defence cuts.

No decision has been made on whether the Government will replace the submarine-launched missile system that constitutes the UK's nuclear deterrent, Trident, for which AWE provides the warheads for Trident, and while all armed forces are suffering cuts, eyebrows have been raised at the significant increase in nuclear weapons spending.

A spokesman for the Nuclear Information Service, Peter Burt, said the giant sums being spent on projects at AWE should be a concern.

“The inescapable conclusion is that the Atomic Weapons Establishment has not been delivering value for money to taxpayers in years past,” he said.

The MoD has attempted to play down the amount involved and said it was integral to continue investing in AWE.

A spokeswoman for the MoD, Rosalind Britton-Elliott, said: “This funding, which includes Project Pegasus was announced six years ago and will ensure we maintain our commitment to providing our vital nuclear deterrent.

“It is necessary to invest in the facilities at AWE, which will provide assurance that the existing Trident warhead stockpile is reliable and safe.”

No-one from AWE was available for comment when contacted by the Newbury Weekly News.

The multi-million pound development, dubbed Project Pegasus, will be a two-storey, 18,490sq m building and aims to provide long-term capability for the storage and handling of enriched uranium, a naturally-occurring heavy metal enriched for the use in nuclear weapons.

It will incorporate office accommodation, storage and material-handling areas for uranium.

A week after the decision was made to give planning permission hundreds of anti-nuclear campaigners gathered at AWE Aldermaston to stage a blockade of all seven gates of the organisation.

The Bishop of Reading, the Rt Rev Stephen Cotterill, joined protesters from several organisations, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Trident Ploughshares, in a peaceful protest against nuclear weapons.

ENDS



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