Abstract

The UK policy for nuclear weapons is for Continuous at Sea Deterrent and has been in service for 50 years. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) signed in 1996 means that Trident, the current in service system has to be designed, built, serviced and decommissioned without nuclear testing. The science and technology for this is understandably broad and very interesting.

In parallel, at AWE there is a Nuclear Threat Reduction programme which focuses on the detection, characterisation and attribution of material outside of regulatory control. It also covers international treaties such as the CTBT , non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and any future arms control treaties. This talk will look at the underlying science of Nuclear Threat Reduction and how its science and technology is heavily dependent on the expertise of the UK’s nuclear deterrent.