By IRNA
London : The number of staff employed at Britain’s nuclear arms plants has increased by almost one-third in the past four years despite the government’s declared commitment to comply with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
At the end of February, there were 4,620 staff employed at the country’s Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston and Burghfield in southern England, Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth has revealed. In addition, some 2,000 staff were employed by contractors.
The number compared with a manpower level of 3,510 at the two split sites in 2004, Ainsworth said in a written parliamentary reply published Friday.
The figures show a gradual increase to 3,640 staff in 2005 before bigger rises to 4,040 in 2006 and to 4,390 by last year. During previous years, there was no figure of any contractual workers.
The increase comes amid the government controversial decision last year to go ahead with plans to replace the country’s submarine-based Trident nuclear missile, which many international lawyers said was in contravention to the NPT.
Under Article IV of the treaty, the UK is committed to disarm its nuclear weapons capability along with the other four permanent members of the UN Secretary Council, the US, Russia, France and China.
The British government has maintained that it will reduce its nuclear arsenal to “160 operationally available warheads,” but it has yet to decide what new warheads will be developed.