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Labour MP Alan Simpson today (12th August) released a report accusing the government of secretly collaborating with the U.S. to develop prototype designs to replace the current Trident nuclear warhead. The report, produced by Mr Simpson and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, also exposes extensive programmes in the US and UK to maintain nuclear weapons well into 21st century. The programmes, known as Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmes (SSMP's), allow countries with past nuclear test data to develop new generations of nuclear weapons using high tech equipment including computer modelling, lasers and 'sub-critical' nuclear tests. UK work on SSMP includes a 100 million pound facility at AWE Aldermaston, given the go ahead in Spring this year by George Robertson, to take pictures of how the core of a nuclear weapon reacts when it explodes. The UK have also invested an undisclosed sum in the U.S. National Ignition Facility, that uses lasers to simulate temperatures and pressures that occur when a nuclear weapon explodes. The report's evidence for work on a new prototype warhead for Trident points to co-operation with the U.S. who have publicly admitted that they are working on the Trident prototypes and are looking into a replacement for Trident. Answers to Parliamentary Questions put down by Mr Simpson revealed that 1998-9 saw a 100% increase in visits by UK nuclear scientists to US, with more than 500 AWE staff visiting US nuclear weapons laboratories in over two hundred separate trips. They also revealed UK nuclear scientists' involvement in U.S. groups specifically working on prototype upgrades for the US Trident system, which the UK warhead is closely based upon. In the U.S., $67 billion has been earmarked over 15 years for the SSMP programme being conducted at Los Alamos, Sandia and Lawrence Livermore laboratories. Mr Simpson said, "These programmes, which have gone ahead without any parliamentary consultation and no public mandate, threaten to scupper international attempts to get rid of nuclear weapons once and for all." He added, "While being careful not to break the letter of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, these programmes clearly undermine their purpose which is to end nuclear weapons development and bring about disarmament by the nuclear powers." "Nuclear testing by India and Pakistan just last year showed us that we can't have it both ways for ever. Why should countries commit to never test or develop nuclear weapons when the nuclear weapons states clearly don't intend to get rid of theirs. 'Trust us we're ethical' just won't wash as an argument." "In the 1960's and 1970's we had the Chevaline scandal, when a Labour government hid from Parliament the development of a new warhead for the Polaris system for a decade and a half. 1 billion pounds was spent without the knowledge of the public or parliament." He added, "This is simply not acceptable in a modern democracy. The obsession with secrecy within the Ministry of Defence must give way to a more open scrutiny of nuclear weapons policies, programmes and costs". William Peden of CND who conducted the research with Mr Simpson said, "The nuclear spin doctors tell us these programmes are all about 'reliability' and 'safety'. Are the US and UK government's seriously saying that after forty years of nuclear weapons development and over 1,000 nuclear tests we still don't know whether our nuclear warheads are safe ? "Just two years ago we were reassured by the Ministry of Defence's Chief Scientific Advisor that Trident warheads were totally safe - is this now being recanted?" The report, which is based on information available in the U.S. and answers to Parliamentary Questions, also highlights a culture of secrecy in the U.K. and contrasts this with openness in the U.S. Most of the publicly available information about the push for a new generation of nuclear weapons, though available to the American public, still remains secret in Britain. The report also outlines where UK nuclear weapons costs are hidden within Ministry of Defence budgets. ENDS/EDITOR'S NOTES: Footnote: 1 The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was ratified by the Labour government in 1998. Its preamble states that signatories commit themselves to: "the cessation of all nuclear weapon test explosions and all other nuclear explosions, by constraining the development and qualitative improvement of nuclear weapons and ending the development of advanced new types of nuclear weapon, constitutes an effective measure of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in all its aspects." For more information: call Louise Edge or William Peden at the CND Press Office on 0171 700 2350 0973 773671 or pager number 0336 724404. The 30 page report detailing the full evidence for the points raised in the release and with appendices on: How the costs of UK nuclear weapons are hidden from Parliament; Full details of the Chevaline scandal; A summary of past and current US-UK co-operation on nuclear weapons and Details of construction and refurbishment contracts over 250,000 pounds in value underway at Aldermaston. Click here for the full report
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