X-Nico

8 unusual facts about Atomic Weapons Establishment


A.F.C. Aldermaston

The club has played at AWE Aldermaston (on the Hampshire-Berkshire border) since its establishment in 1952.

A.F.C. Aldermaston play at the Recreational Society (commonly abbreviated to "Rec Soc") at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston, having been founded shortly after the complex's establishment.

Atomic Weapons Establishment

The airfield was constructed in World War II and had been used by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army's Eighth and Ninth Air Force as a troop carrier (C‑47) group base, and was assigned USAAF station No 467.

AWE plc is owned by a consortium of Jacobs Engineering Group, Lockheed Martin UK, and Serco through AWE Management Ltd who hold a 25‑year contract (until March 2025) to operate AWE.

Lockheed's failings included safety concerns at the Y-12 facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, an American weapons plant similar in certain ways to Aldermaston.

AWE cooperates with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States and other American nuclear weapons laboratories in carrying out subcritical nuclear tests at the Nevada underground test site to obtain scientific data to maintain the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons.

In December 2008, the BNFL share in AWE Management Ltd was sold to Jacobs Engineering Group, an American engineering services company.

Glen Fruin

It was originally built along with the Garelochhead Bypass Road in order to directly link RNAD Coulport and Faslane to the A82 road in order to permit easy transportation of warheads to the naval base from the Atomic Weapons Establishment.


History of the Ministry of Defence Police

Most notable was the peace camp and very large protests against the deployment of US Cruise Missiles at the USAF (RAF) Greenham Common and other UK locations; and regular largescale protests at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment Aldermaston.

Sellafield Ltd

BNG's US subsidiary, BNG America, its Magnox reactor business, Reactor Sites Management Company, its consultancy business, BNG Project Services and its one third share in Atomic Weapons Establishment management company, AWE Management Ltd were all sold.


see also

Jacobs Engineering Group

It owns one-third of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston, UK.