Publication Laka-library:
Aldermaston - Inside the citadel (1993)
| Author | Greenpeace |
| Date | 1993 |
| Classification | 2.05.8.90/01 (UNITED KINGDOM - ALDERMASTON) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
INTRODUCTION In 1952 Britain's first nuclear bomb factory started operations near the pretty Berkshire village of Aldermaston. By this date the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) (a) was already the driving force behind Britain's push to join the new nuclear arms race. In the laboratories and workshops of Aldermaston's top security A Area, known as The Citadel,(b) Britain's bomb was researched, designed and manufactured. Forty years later Aldermaston is still the central institution of the UK nuclear weapons infrastructure. Despite global nuclear arms reductions, the Establishment is still working at full stretch, producing warhead components for Trident missiles. This report prises open 'The Citadel' to investigate Aldermaston's record of health and safety. Its findings constitute disturbing evidence not only that the work of the Establishment is inherently and unavoidably dangerous, but also that what safety margins do exist are being squeezed to their limits by the pressure to produce a new generation of nuclear weapons. (c) Our report is the first outside examination of safety at Aldermaston since the Pochin Inquiry of 1978. We have therefore taken this opportunity to assess how far Pochin's recommendations for improving safety at the AWE have been implemented. (a) Between 1951 and 1987 the Aldermaston facility was known as AWRE (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment). Following a reorganisation involving the sale of the Royal Ordnance Factories in 1987, the term Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) was used. For consistency this report will use AWE throughout. (b) Originally The Citadel was used by workers to denote the Al.l building specifically, but it soon came to mean the high security A Area as a whole. We use the term in this latter, more general, sense. (c) This report does not attempt a detailed analysis of the radiological impact of AWE Aldermaston on either its staff or the local population, as that has been the subject of a number of other studies. See below under the heading "Suspected Radiation-Related Deaths".
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