Five firms set to share pound;1bn Aldermaston revamp

摘要

Hundreds of civil engineers are to be retained as nuclear specialists for a pound;1bn programme to modernise the nuclear weapons facilities at Aldermaston, Berkshire. The government's Atomic Weapons Establishment has signed up Atkins, and is understood to be talking to four other firms about upgrading the facilities that produce warheads for Trident missiles. These are Amec NNC - the nuclear branch of Amec, acquired in January, RWE Nukem, Jacobs Babtie and Mott MacDonald. The modernisation programme, to which defence secretary John Reid has committed pound;350m a year for the next three years, is to refurbish laboratories, testing facilities, support offices and infrastructure, much of which dates back to the 1950s.