The planned Future Materials Campus is to support the UK’s next-generation Astraea nuclear warhead programme.<\/p>\n
The investment secures and supports around 9,000 jobs at AWE Aldermaston, with more than 1,500 new jobs created over the preceding year.<\/p>\n
“We first had to consider the operational demands that will be placed upon AWE plc in the 21st century,” said AWE.<\/p>\n
“Our mission is to provide the warheads for the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent.<\/p>\n
“We are, in fact, responsible for the whole life cycle of warheads, from initial research and design, manufacturing and in-service support, through to final disposal.”<\/p>\n
The site will also enhance scientific analysis, and improve nuclear material recovery and waste reduction.<\/p>\n
AWE Aldermaston conducts hydrodynamics experiments in which weapon mock-ups and small amounts of fissile material are subjected to explosive shocks.<\/p>\n
The experiments are ‘photographed’ by giant x-ray machines and analysed with a range of diagnostic equipment.<\/p>\n
The new plans for AWE in Aldermaston are also said to include a new Hydrodynamics Research Facility, with greatly improved diagnostics.<\/p>\n
A 10-year, up to \u00a3900m, framework targeting non-nuclear and supporting infrastructure, including new office spaces, advanced manufacturing facilities, testing laboratories, and site-wide services is also planned.<\/p>\n
Following the Ministry of Defence’s acquisition of the adjacent 139-acre Aldermaston Park, AWE is integrating the historical site \u2013 while developing long-term site perimeter and community access plans.<\/p>\n
There are more than 1,200 buildings on the Aldermaston site, more than half of which were constructed before 1960.<\/p>\n
The programme is set to span a decade of construction, supported by a broader \u00a315bn Government investment into the UK nuclear warhead enterprise.<\/p>\n
Peak construction is expected to generate significant transport and logistical activity along local routes like the A340 corridor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The planned Future Materials Campus is to support the UK’s next-generation Astraea nuclear warhead programme. The investment secures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-803327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}