Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 2 July 2014, Official Report, column 676W on AWE, what his most recent estimate is of the (a) anticipated out-turn cost and (b) projected in-service date of each of the new build projects in the Atomic Weapons Establishment Site Development Context Plan.
Michael Fallon
The approved costs and in-service dates of the current new build projects at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, are shown below.
In-service dates are shown in bandings to avoid prejudice to national security and defence. No costs are attributed to projects detailed in Table 2 as these have yet to be formally approved.
Table 1 – Approved new-build projects
|
Ongoing projects |
Function |
In-Service Period |
Approved cost £million |
|
Warhead assembly/disassembly – Mensa |
Manufacturing/production |
2016-20 |
734 |
|
Uranium components – Pegasus |
Manufacturing/production |
2016-20 |
634 |
Table 2 – Planned projects not yet approved
|
Ongoing projects |
Function |
In-Service Period |
|
Salts Processing – Octans |
Testing/research |
2020-25 |
|
Initiator system manufacture-Taurus |
Manufacturing/production |
2020-25 |
|
Large Scale formulations-Scorpius |
Manufacturing/production |
2025-30 |
|
Small Scale formulations-Cepheus |
Manufacturing/production |
2025-30 |
|
New Plutonium (Pu) Facility – not yet named |
Manufacturing/production |
2025-30 |
|
New depleted Uranium Facility |
Manufacturing/production |
2025-30 |
|
Assembly for Trials-Columba |
Testing/research |
2025-30 |
|
High Explosive Climatic Trials |
Testing/research |
2025-30 |
|
Non-Metallics & materials R&D-Libra |
Testing/research |
2025-30 |
|
Chemical processing-Astra |
Manufacturing/production |
2025-30 |
