Caroline Lucas
Leader of the Green Party
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence
(1) whether he expects development of a new systems engineering facility at the Atomic Weapons Establishment to go ahead;
(2) what his most recent estimate is of the (a) cost and (b) projected in-service date for each of the new build projects in the Atomic Weapons Establishment Site Development Context Plan 2005-15.
Peter Luff
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
The projects included in the Atomic Weapons Establishment Site Development Context Plan 2005-15 are shown in the table. The functions of the projects given in the table correlate with the headings in the Site Development Plan.
Where applicable, the names of projects are indicated where they have been finalised. Costs not shown are being withheld as their disclosure would be likely to prejudice the Department's commercial interests.
Projected in-service dates are shown in bandings to avoid prejudice to national security and/or Defence.
One of the projects included in the table is a systems engineering facility. This is one of the projects where the decision has been taken to meet the requirement without the need for new buildings.
| Project name | Function | Cost (£ million) |
| 2010-11 prices | ||
| Completed projects | ||
| IT server buildings (two projects) | Computer/communications | 32 |
| New office accommodation Phase 1-Gemini (two buildings) | Office and business support accommodation | 78 |
| Modular accommodation (five buildings) | Office and business support accommodation | 27 |
| Car park/landscaping | Office and business support/environmental | 3 |
| Outturn Prices | ||
| Projected in-service period 2011-15 | ||
| Orion Laser | Testing/research | 183 |
| Small components interim-Leo | Manufacturing/production | 16 |
| Building for high performance computer-Orchard | Computing/communications | — |
| High explosives fabrication-Circinus | Manufacturing/production | 231 |
| Projected in-service period 2016-20 | ||
| Warhead assembly/disassembly-Mensa | Manufacturing/production | 734 |
| Uranium components-Pegasus | Manufacturing/production | 634 |
| Laboratory-Octans | Testing/research | — |
| Projects under consideration following SDSR publication | ||
| High explosives climatic trials | Manufacturing/production | — |
| Chemical processing-Astra | Manufacturing/production | — |
| High explosives assembly for trials | Testing/research | — |
| Small components-Libra | Testing/research | — |
| Projects not taken forward where alternative solutions found | ||
| New office accommodation Phase 2 | Office and business support accommodation | — |
| New office accommodation Phase 3 | Office and business support accommodation | — |
| Systems engineering | Manufacturing/production | — |
| Hydrodynamics-Hydrus | Testing/research | — |
| Landscaping | Environmental | — |
Yes0 people think so
No1 person thinks not
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