The UK and Nuclear Weapons

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The UK and Nuclear Weapons

• By Theresa Wilson
• Michael Backer

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History

• Originally, the UK had been conducting its own
  research program from 1940 but then combined with
  the US program three years later. When this
  partnership ended another three years later in
  August 1946 because of the McMahon Act, where US
  controlled and managed nuclear technology, UK
  decided to return to its own development program
  and testing. In 1952 they finally tested their
  first bomb, Hurricane.

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Nuclear Weapons States

• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty a treaty to
  limit the spread of nuclear weapons among the
  world.

• Only States with weapons
• 1. US
• 2. Russia
• 3. UK
• 4. France
• 5. China

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The First Testings

• The United Kingdom was the third state to test an
  independently developed nuclear weapon in October
  1952 (Hurricane).

• The two before were US in 1945 with Trinity and
  the Soviet Union in 1949 with RDS-1.

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UK Testing

• 1st Test
• Hurricane
• October 3, 1952
• 25 kT
• Last Test
• Julin Bristol
• November 26, 1991
• Largest Test
• April 28, 1958
• 3 Mt

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Motivation

• UKs military was convinced by the need to have
  an atomic capability to match any other power
  which might develop such weapons.
• In august 1946, the Chief of the Air Staff put in
  a demand through normal procurement channels for
  an atomic bomb and Hurricane was the result in
  1952.

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• After Hurricanes testing, the Chief argued that
  more reliance should be placed on nuclear threats
  to contain Soviet expansion.
• UK was the first country to base its national
  defense upon a declared policy of nuclear
  deterrence.

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Partial Test Ban Treaty

• prohibits all tests of nuclear weapons except
  underground.
• developed both to slow the arms race (nuclear
  testing was, back then, necessary for continued
  nuclear weapon advancements), and to stop the
  excessive release of nuclear fallout into the
  planet's atmosphere.

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• The UK government signed this treaty on August 5
  1963, along with the United States and the Soviet
  Union.
• Again, it restricted it to underground nuclear
  tests by outlawing testing in the atmosphere,
  underwater, or in outer space.

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Total

• The UK has conducted 45 tests total.
• 21 performed in Australian territory
• 9 in mainland South Australia at Maralinga and
  Emu Field

• The 23 or 24 test from December 1962, onward,
  were in conjunction with the US at their Nevada
  site.
• This included Julin Bristol.

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More recently

• A new Trident strategic missile system became
  operational in 1994, building four submarines.
• By 1998, these represented the only nuclear
  systems fielded by the UK, and were limited to 48
  warheads each.
• The motivation for this force appears to be as an
  insurance policy against an uncertain future.

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Today

• UK are thought to have a weapons stockpile of
  around 200 operational nuclear warheads, much
  less than their previous numbers of around 350
  during the 1970s.
• The low number of testing taken by the UK is
  misleading. Because they have access to US
  testing data, eliminating their need to test as
  much.

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Fun Fact (Number of Warheads)

• The UK government stated that once the Vanguard
  submarines became fully operational, that last
  would maintain a stockpile of fewer than 200
  operationally available warheads.
• The fourth and final one, Vengeance, entered
  service on November 27, 1999.

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Fun Fact

• Since the 1958 US-UK Mutual Defense Agreement,
  both countries have cooperated extensively on
  nuclear security matters. It has involved the
  exchange of classified scientific knowledge and
  nuclear materials such as plutonium.

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Fun Fact

• During the cold war, government effort made to
  assess the effects of a nuclear attack on the UK
  was significant. A major government exercise,
  Square Leg, was held in September 1980 and
  involved around 130 warheads with a total yield
  of 200 megatons. They say that this is probably
  the largest attack that a country could survive
  in some limited form.

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Works Cited

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_t
  he_United_Kingdom
• http//www.tgarden.demon.co.uk/writings/articles/2
  001/010301nuc.html
• http//images.google.com/imgres?imgurlhttp//cont
  ent.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/2/27/Worldwide_
  nuclear_testing.pngimgrefurlhttp//www.answers.c
  om/topic/nuclear-testing
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial_Test_Ban_Trea
  ty