10 January 2008: for immediate release

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament today expressed its concern that Britain’s Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston may soon come under majority control of US-corporations. The Government is currently in the process of selling-off the one-third stake in AWE Management Ltd that it owns through BNFL, with two US engineering groups, Fluor Corporation and Jacobs Engineering Group identified as the only remaining bidders.

Responding to the news, as reported in the Financial Times [see note 2], Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said, “For anyone that mistakenly supports Britain’s possession of a nuclear weapons system on the basis that it is distinct from the US, this news discredits that argument more than ever before. When not only the missiles are leased from the US, but the very warheads may now be put under the control of American companies, the illusion that Trident is an independent system is shakier than ever. Agreeing to spend vast amounts on replacing Britain's nuclear weapons is looking increasingly like a massive cash injection for US corporations, and less and less related to any genuine concern for Britain's security."

CND will be holding surrounding AWE Aldermaston on Easter Monday, 24th March - the 50th Anniversary of the first march from London to the Atomic Weapons Establishment. The event at Aldermaston will include a symbolic march by a Japanese delegation of survivors of the Hiroshima bomb. The call will be 'The Bomb Stops Here', to end nuclear weapons production at Aldermaston, and achieve nuclear disarmament.

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Notes to Editors

1. For further information and interviews please contact Ben Soffa, CND's Press & Communications Officer, on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859

2. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dad955fe-bf1d-11dc-8c61-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

3. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe’s biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 35,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere. www.cnduk.org