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.
Answered on
23 December 2015
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 |