BLOCK THE BUILDERS: Press release - issued 4 December 2005
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Block the Builders is calling for an immediate stop to all building work at AWE Aldermaston, until there has been a full public debate on yesterday's White Paper on the future of the UK's nuclear weapons.

While Tony Blair was announcing the "options" for the development of a next generation of nuclear submarines, and promising a parliamentary vote in three months time, contractors were continuing their work on buildings at Aldermaston which are now generally acknowledged to make to the site "fit for the purpose" of building the next generation of nuclear weapons.

"It's totally hypocritical of the government to 'consult' parliament - and to pretend that decisions 'whether or not we may need to refurbish or replace this warhead are likely to be necessary in the next parliament' while contractors prepare to pour concrete at the site of the £183 million Orion laser." said a spokesperson for BtB. "Work has to stop until there has been a full public debate"

According to a recent ICM poll some 59% of the population would oppose the estimated £25 billion costs of the development of a new nuclear weapon system.

Block the Builders, a non-violent direct action group, will be at AWE Aldermaston on Monday 11 December - to see if building work on Orion has stopped. If not there will be a blockade of construction traffic entering the site on Monday morning.

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Further information
The Orion laser facility - 1,000 times more powerful than the existing HELEN laser - will be used to test materials under conditions replicating a nuclear explosion, is a key element the the multi-billion pound expansion programme at the UK nuclear weapons factory in Berkshire.

Companies with contracts at Aldermaston include Jacobs Engineering - whoare managing the government's investment programme, W.S. Atkins, with a major design contract, including on the Orion laser; MW Zander, who have a £20m contract for the design and build of the Orion laser, and Mott McDonald, whose designs for a new £60m office complex were submitted to local planning authorities in October.