1.
Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
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The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy is the UKs national laboratory for fusion research. It is located at the Culham Science Centre, near Culham, Oxfordshire, and is the site of the Joint European Torus, Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak and the now closed Small Tight Aspect Ratio Tokamak. Formerly known as UKAEA Culham, the laboratory was renamed in October 2009 as part of changes at its parent body. Since September 2008 the director has been Professor Steven Cowley, in 2014 it was announced the centre would house the new RACE The centre occupies the site of the former Royal Navy airfield RNAS Culham, which was transferred to UKAEA in 1960. The UKAEA continues to operate the site and is the major tenant, as well as CCFE, the centre houses the headquarters of the UKAEA, and hosts many commercial and other organisations. UKAEA officially opened Culham Laboratory in 1965, having moved its research operations from the nearby Harwell research site. Culham also amalgamated fusion activities at Aldermaston and other UK locations to form a centre for fusion research. John Adams, who would go on to become Director-General of CERN, was appointed the first Director of the laboratory. Culham built almost 30 different experiments in its first two decades as a variety of concepts were tried out, among them shock-waves, magnetic mirror machines, stellarators. During the 1970s, research focused on magnetic confinement fusion using the tokamak device. This led to the adoption of the tokamak by the majority of research establishments internationally. In 1977, following protracted negotiations, Culham was chosen as the site for the Joint European Torus tokamak, construction began in 1978 and was completed on time and on budget, with first plasma in June 1983. Initially the JET facility was run by a team as a separate entity on the Culham site under the JET Joint Undertaking agreement. However, since 2000, UKAEA has been responsible for the operation of JET on behalf of its European research partners and this is thought to offer potential advantages by enabling smaller, more efficient fusion devices. The START experiment at Culham was the first full-sized spherical tokamak and its impressive performance led to the construction of a larger device, MAST, which operated between 2000 and 2013. It also participates in a co-ordinated European programme, which is managed by the EUROfusion consortium of research institutes and this is focussed on delivering the European fusion roadmap, with the goal of achieving fusion electricity by 2050. CCFE is involved in a number of other collaborations, notably the ITER tokamak being built at Cadarache in France. The focus of the UK domestic fusion programme is MAST Upgrade – a more powerful, currently under construction, MAST Upgrade is expected to start commissioning in late 2016
2.
Government of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015. Prior to this, Cameron and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject
3.
Fusion power
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Fusion power is energy generated by nuclear fusion. Fusion reactions fuse two lighter nuclei to form a heavier nucleus. It is an area of plasma physics research that attempts to harness such reactions as a source of large scale sustainable energy. Fusion reactions are how stars transmute matter into energy, in most large scale commercial programs, heat from neutron scattering in a controlled reaction is used to operate a steam turbine that drives electric generators. Many fusion concepts are under investigation, the current leading designs are the tokamak and inertial confinement by laser. As of February 2017, these technologies were not currently viable, as they produce more energy than is required to initiate. Alternative approaches rely on other means of transfer, mostly that capture energy without relying on neutron capture. For nuclei lighter than iron-56, the reaction is exothermic, releasing energy, for nuclei heavier than iron-56, the reaction is endothermic, requiring an external source of energy. Hence, nuclei smaller than iron-56 are more likely to fuse while those heavier than iron-56 are more likely to break apart, the strong force acts only over short distances. The repulsive electrostatic force acts over distances, so kinetic energy is needed to overcome this Coulomb barrier before fusion can take place. Ways of doing this include speeding up atoms in an accelerator, or heating them to high temperatures. Once an atom is heated above its ionization energy, its electrons are stripped away, the result is a hot cloud of ions and the electrons formerly attached to them. This cloud is known as a plasma, because the charges are separated, plasmas are electrically conductive and magnetically controllable. Many fusion devices take advantage of this to control the particles as they are heated, a reactions cross section, denoted σ, is the measure of the probability that a fusion reaction will happen. This depends on the velocity of the two nuclei. Higher relative velocities increase the probability, cross sections for many fusion reactions were measured using particle beams. In a plasma, particle velocity can be characterized using a probability distribution, if the plasma is thermalized, the distribution looks like a bell curve, or maxwellian distribution. In this case, it is useful to use the average particle cross section over the velocity distribution, the Lawson Criterion shows how energy output varies with temperature, density, speed of collision and fuel
4.
Culham
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Culham is a village and civil parish in a bend of the River Thames,1 mile south of Abingdon in Oxfordshire. The parish includes Culham Science Centre and the European School, Culham, the parish is bounded by the Thames to the north, west and south, and by present and former field boundaries to the east. It is low-lying and fairly flat, rising from the Thames floodplain in the south to an escarpment in the north up to 260 feet above sea level. The 2011 Census recorded its population as 453, the toponym comes from the Old English Culas hamm, referring to the villages position in a bend of the Thames. Culham is known to have existed by the reign of King Coenwulf of Mercia early in the 9th century, the west wing of Culham Manor was built in the 15th century as a medieval grange for Abingdon Abbey. It is half-timbered, with a ground floor and timber-framed first floor. In 1610 it was extended with a new front and east wing. The east wing was demolished but the 17th century north front survives. The house is a Grade II* Listed building, in 1685 a dovecote was built for the manor house. It too is now Grade II* listed, north of the house is a 17th-century sundial mounted on a 13th-century column. Several records suggest that Culham may have had a chapel since the 9th century, a parish church dedicated to Saint Paul was built in the 12th century. It was cruciform, having a chancel, nave and north and south transepts, there was a tower, and this was demolished and replaced in 1710. In 1852 the whole church except the 1710 tower was demolished and replaced with a new Gothic Revival building in 13th century style designed by Joseph Clarke. During the rebuilding, heraldic stained glass installed in the transept in 1638 was transferred to a window in the north aisle of the new church. The tower has a ring of six bells, but currently for technical reasons it is not possible to ring them, mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast or re-cast five of the bells in 1921, and cast the present tenor bell in 1926. St Pauls has also a Sanctus bell cast in 1774 by Edne Witts of Aldbourne, st Pauls parish is now part of the Benefice of Dorchester. Culham House is a mid-18th-century brick Georgian house, built to replace an earlier rectory and it was probably designed and built by John Phillips of London. In 1416–22 the Abingdon Guild of the Holy Cross built Culham Bridge over the narrow Back Water between the village and Abingdon to carry the road between Abingdon and Dorchester
5.
Oxfordshire
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Oxfordshire is a county in South East England bordering on Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. The county has major education and tourist industries and is noted for the concentration of performance companies and facilities. Oxford University Press is the largest firm among a concentration of print and publishing firms, the main centre of population is the city of Oxford. The highest point is White Horse Hill, in the Vale of White Horse, oxfordshires county flower is the Snakes-head Fritillary. Historically the area has always had some importance, since it contains valuable agricultural land in the centre of the county, largely ignored by the Romans, it was not until the formation of a settlement at Oxford in the eighth century that the area grew in importance. Alfred the Great was born across the Thames in Wantage, Vale of White Horse, the University of Oxford was founded in 1096, though its collegiate structure did not develop until later on. The university in the county town of Oxford grew in importance during the Middle Ages, the area was part of the Cotswolds wool trade from the 13th century, generating much wealth, particularly in the western portions of the county in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. Morris Motors was founded in Oxford in 1912, bringing industry to an otherwise agricultural county. The importance of agriculture as an employer has declined rapidly in the 20th century though, nonetheless, Oxfordshire remains a very agricultural county by land use, with a lower population than neighbouring Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, which are both smaller. The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, the army unit in the area, was based at Cowley Barracks on Bullingdon Green. Conversely, the Caversham area of Reading, now administratively in Berkshire, was part of Oxfordshire as was the parish of Stokenchurch. This is a chart of trend of gross value added of Oxfordshire at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Oxfordshire has a comprehensive education system with 23 independent schools and 35 state secondary schools. Only eight schools do not have a form, these are mostly in South Oxfordshire. The county has two universities, the ancient University of Oxford and the modern Oxford Brookes University, both located in Oxford, in addition, Wroxton College, located in Banbury, is affiliated with Fairleigh Dickinson University of New Jersey. The dreaming spires of the buildings of the University of Oxford are among the reasons for Oxford being the sixth most visited city in the United Kingdom for international visitors. Among many notable University buildings are the Sheldonian Theatre, built 1664–68 to the design of Sir Christopher Wren, Blenheim Palace close to Woodstock was built by the great architect John Vanbrugh for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, after he had won the battle of Blenheim. The gardens, which can be visited, were designed by the landscape gardener Capability Brown, in the palace, which can also be visited by the public, Sir Winston Churchill was born in 1874
6.
Joint European Torus
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JET, the Joint European Torus, is the worlds largest operational magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment, located at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, UK. Based on a design, the fusion research facility is a joint European project with a main purpose of opening the way to future nuclear fusion grid energy. More advanced facilities are being developed to follow on the JET research, including the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the JET facilities are situated on a former Navy airfield near Culham, Oxfordshire – RNAS Culham, in the UK. They are located alongside Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, the construction of the buildings which house the project was undertaken by Tarmac Construction, starting in 1978 with the Torus Hall being completed in January 1982. Construction of the JET machine itself began immediately after the completion of the Torus Hall, the cost was 198.8 Million European Units of Account or 438 million in 2014 US dollars. JETs power requirements during the pulse are around 500 MW with peak in excess of 1000 MW. Because power draw from the grid is limited to 575 MW. Each 775-ton flywheel can spin up to 225 rpm and store 3.75 GJ, each flywheel uses 8.8 MW to spin up and can generate 400 MW. JET has a radius of 3 meters and contains a total plasma volume of 90 cubic meters. In 1970 the Council of the European Community decided in favour of a robust fusion programme, three years later, the design work began for the JET machine. In 1977 the construction began and at the end of the same year a former Fleet Air Arm airfield at Culham in the UK was selected as the site for the JET project. In 1978 the JET Joint Undertaking was established as a legal entity, only five years later the construction was completed on time and on budget. On 25 June 1983 the very first JET plasma was achieved, on 9 November 1991 a Preliminary Tritium Experiment achieved the world’s first controlled release of fusion power. Six years later, in 1997, another record was achieved at JET,16 megawatts of fusion power were produced. In 1998 JET’s engineers developed a remote handling system with which, for the first time, a “Remote Handling” system is, in general, an essential tool for any subsequent fusion power plant and especially for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. This Remote Handling system was later to lead on to become RACE, in 1999 the European Fusion Development Agreement was established with responsibility for the future collective use of JET. JET operated throughout 2003, with the year culminating in experiments using small amounts of tritium, heating power was also increased by 50%, bringing the neutral beam power available to the plasma up to 34MW, and diagnostic and control capabilities were improved. In total, over 86,000 components were changed in the torus during the shutdown, in mid-May 2011, the shutdown reached its end
7.
Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside
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Hinton was born on 12 May 1901 at Tisbury, Wiltshire. He attended school in Chippenham where his father was a schoolmaster, at 22 he was awarded the William Henry Allen scholarship of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first class honours degree. Hinton then worked for Brunner Mond, later part of ICI, at Brunner Mond he met Lillian Boyer whom he married in 1931. They had one daughter, Mary, who married Arthur Mole, son of Sir Charles Mole, during World War II, Hinton was seconded to the Ministry of Supply and became Deputy Director General, running ordnance factory construction and in charge of the Royal Filling Factories. Hintons department was responsible for the design and construction of most of Britains major nuclear plants, including Windscale, Capenhurst, Springfields, in 1957, Hinton became the first chairman of the Central Electricity Generating Board. In 1965 he worked for six months in the Ministry of Transport and he served as Chairman of the International Executive Committee of the World Energy Conference, 1962–1968. He was created Baron Hinton of Bankside, of Dulwich in the County of London, a peer, on 28 January 1965. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1976
8.
John Cockcroft
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The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in Great Britains history, ranked in severity at level 5 out of a possible 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The fire took place in Unit 1 of the two-pile Windscale facility on the northwest coast of England in Cumberland, the two graphite-moderated reactors, referred to at the time as piles, had been built as part of the British atomic bomb project. Windscale Pile No.1 was operational in October 1950 followed by Pile No.2 in June 1951, the fire burned for three days and there was a release of radioactive contamination that spread across the UK and Europe. Of particular concern at the time was the radioactive isotope iodine-131, which may lead to cancer of the thyroid, No one was evacuated from the surrounding area, but there was a worry that milk might be dangerously contaminated. Milk from about 500 km2 of nearby countryside was diluted and destroyed for about a month, a 2010 study of workers directly involved in the cleanup found no significant long term health effects from their involvement. After the Second World War, the British government embarked on a programme to build nuclear weapons, skipping the lower-performance uranium-based weapons in favour of those based on plutonium, a plutonium-breeding reactor system was designed to produce this material. The design was based on the graphite-moderated B Reactor built at the Hanford Site, the reactors were built in a short time near the village of Seascale, Cumberland. They were known as Windscale Pile 1 and Pile 2, housed in large buildings a few hundred feet apart. The core of the reactors consisted of a block of graphite with horizontal channels drilled through it for the fuel cartridges. Each cartridge consisted of a uranium rod about 30 cm long encased in a canister to protect it from the air, as uranium becomes highly reactive when hot. The cartridge was finned, allowing heat exchange with the environment to cool the fuel rods while they were in the reactor, rods were pushed in the front of the core, the charge face, with new rods being added at a calculated rate. The chain reaction in the core converted the uranium into a variety of isotopes, including some plutonium, as this plutonium was intended for weapons purposes, the burnup of the fuel would have been kept low to reduce production of the heavier plutonium isotopes. The design initially called for the core to be cooled like the B Reactor, there was considerable concern that such a system was subject to catastrophic failure in the event of a loss-of-coolant accident. This would cause the reactor to run out of control in seconds, at Hanford, this possibility was dealt with by constructing a 30 miles escape road to evacuate the staff were this to occur, abandoning the site. Lacking any location where a 30-mile area could be abandoned if an event were to occur in the UK. In place of water, they used air cooling driven by convection through a 400 feet tall chimney, the chimney was arranged so it pulled air through the channels in the core, cooling the fuel via fins on the cartridges. For additional cooling, huge fans were positioned in front of the core, in that event, the hot uranium could catch fire, with the fine uranium oxide dust being blown up the chimney to escape. When he raised the issue at a meeting and suggested that filters be added to the chimneys and these became known as Cockcrofts Folly by workers and engineers
9.
William Penney, Baron Penney
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William George Penney, Baron Penney OM KBE FRS FRSE, was an English mathematician and professor of mathematical physics at the Imperial College London and later the rector of Imperial College. As the head of the British delegation working in the Manhattan Project, after the test, Penney became chief adviser to the newly created British governments United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. He was later chairman of the authority, which he used in negotiations to control nuclear testing with the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. William George Bill Penney was born in Gibraltar, British Overseas Territory and his father was a sergeant-major in the British Armys Ordnance Corps who was then serving overseas. Penney was raised in Sheerness, Kent and was educated at Sheerness Technical School for Boys from 1924 to 1926 and he then attended the local technical school in Colchester where he completed his technical studies. His talent was recognised by the Governors Prize for Mathematics from the faculty of science, in 1929 Penney graduated, obtaining the B. Sc. in Mathematics with First Class Honours at age 20. Penney was admitted to the department that year, and earned his M. Sc. in mathematics in 1931. Then he was offered a position at the London University. In 1932, Penney was awarded the Ph. D. in Mathematics after submitting his doctoral thesis containing work on optimization and cross section of the physical properties of sold-state crystals. Penney accepted a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship and first traveled to United States where he became foreign research associate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in England, Penney was granted the 1851 Exhibition Scholarship to attend the Trinity College at Cambridge University. He changed his career to physics, and conducted a thorough research and theoretical investigation into the structure of metals. As a recognized prodigy at Imperial College he was set for an academic career until World War II intervened. At the start of World War II, Penneys leading-edge research into the applications of physics was noticed and he had made significant contributions made to the application of collisions, explosion events that created shock waves, and applications involving military use of hydrodynamics and gravity waves. With Royal Navy engineer officers he designed and supervised development of the Mulberry harbours to be placed off the Normandy beaches during the D-Day invasion and these mobile breakwaters would protect the landing craft and troops from the Atlantic rollers. In 1943, he was released from his Royal Navy work, Penney and others went to the Los Alamos Laboratory. At Los Alamos Penney worked on the use of the atomic bomb and he quickly gained recognition for his scientific talents, and also for his leadership qualities and ability to work in harmony with others. Within a few weeks of his arrival he was added to the group of scientists making key decisions in the direction of the program. Other members of that team included J. Robert Oppenheimer, John von Neumann, Norman F. Ramsey, one of Penneys assignments at Los Alamos was to predict the damage effects from the blast wave of an atomic bomb
10.
Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom was the third country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon, in October 1952. It is one of the five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT, since the 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement, the United States and the United Kingdom have cooperated extensively on nuclear security matters. The special relationship between the two countries has involved the exchange of classified data and materials such as plutonium. The UK retains a stockpile of 215 thermonuclear warheads, of which 120 are operational as of 2016, since 1998, the Trident nuclear programme has been the only operational nuclear weapons system in British service. The delivery system consists of four Vanguard class submarines based at HMNB Clyde in Scotland, each submarine is armed with up to 16 Trident II missiles, each carrying warheads in up to eight MIRV re-entry vehicles. With at least one submarine always on patrol, the Vanguards perform a strategic role and are also believed to have a sub-strategic capability. The UK has not run a programme to develop an independent delivery system since the cancellation of the Blue Streak in 1960, instead it has purchased US delivery systems for UK use, fitting them with warheads designed and manufactured by the UKs Atomic Weapons Establishment and its predecessor. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has estimated the figure as about 170, at the same time, the UK government indicated that warheads required to provide a necessary processing margin and for technical surveillance purposes were not included in the fewer than 200 figure. These surveillance rounds are used to monitor deterioration in the many components of the warhead. The SIPRI figures correspond accurately with the announcements and are likely to be the most accurate. The Natural Resources Defense Council speculates that a figure of 200 is accurate to within a few tens, in 2008 the National Audit Office stated that the UK stockpile was of fewer than 160 operationally available nuclear warheads. Until the 1990s the UK deployed a variety of nuclear weapons around the world, such as V bombers in Singapore in the 1960s, aircraft on Cyprus. Until August 1998, the UK retained the WE.177 nuclear weapon manufactured in the mid-1960s to late 1970s, in air-dropped free-fall bomb and its withdrawal left the four Vanguard class submarines, which replaced the Polaris ones in the early 1990s, as Britains only nuclear weapons platform. It has been estimated by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that the United Kingdom has built around 1,200 warheads since the first Hurricane device of 1952, at its peak, these numbered 327 for the British Army of the Rhine in Germany alone. The United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapons in Australia during the 1950s, on the Montebello Islands, the first detonation, codenamed Operation Hurricane, occurred on 3 October 1952, in a shallow bay on Trimouille Island. Two further tests were held on the Montebello Islands during 1956, the second of these, codenamed G2, included the largest nuclear explosion in Australia, with a yield of 98 kilotons. Seven further nuclear tests were conducted on the Australian mainland between 1955 and 1963, within the Woomera Prohibited Area, at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia, the first British hydrogen bombs were tested during Operation Grapple at Malden Island and Christmas Island in the Central Pacific Ocean. The operation consisted of nine tests in the period 1957–1959, ultimately proving that the UK had developed thermonuclear weapons, different sources give the total number of test explosions that the UK has conducted as either 44 or 45
11.
Plutonium
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Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states and it reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume and it is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous. Plutonium was first produced and isolated on December 14,1940 by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Joseph W. Kennedy, Edwin M. McMillan, wahl by deuteron bombardment of uranium-238 in the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. They first synthesized neptunium-238 which subsequently beta-decayed to form a new element with atomic number 94. Uranium had been named after the planet Uranus and neptunium after the planet Neptune, and so element 94 was named after Pluto, wartime secrecy prevented them from announcing the discovery until 1948. Plutonium is the heaviest element to occur in nature as trace quantities arising similarly from the capture of natural uranium-238. Both plutonium-239 and plutonium-241 are fissile, meaning that they can sustain a chain reaction, leading to applications in nuclear weapons. Plutonium-240 exhibits a high rate of fission, raising the neutron flux of any sample containing it. The presence of plutonium-240 limits a plutonium samples usability for weapons or its quality as reactor fuel, plutonium-238 has a half-life of 88 years and emits alpha particles. It is a source in radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which are used to power some spacecraft. Plutonium isotopes are expensive and inconvenient to separate, so particular isotopes are usually manufactured in specialized reactors, producing plutonium in useful quantities for the first time was a major part of the Manhattan Project during World War II that developed the first atomic bombs. The Fat Man bombs used in the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945, Human radiation experiments studying plutonium were conducted without informed consent, and several criticality accidents, some lethal, occurred after the war. Disposal of plutonium waste from power plants and dismantled nuclear weapons built during the Cold War is a nuclear-proliferation. Other sources of plutonium in the environment are fallout from numerous above-ground nuclear tests, Plutonium, like most metals, has a bright silvery appearance at first, much like nickel, but it oxidizes very quickly to a dull gray, although yellow and olive green are also reported. At room temperature plutonium is in its α form and this, the most common structural form of the element, is about as hard and brittle as gray cast iron unless it is alloyed with other metals to make it soft and ductile. Unlike most metals, it is not a conductor of heat or electricity
12.
Enriched uranium
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Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Natural uranium is 99. 284% 238U isotope, with 235U only constituting about 0. 711% of its weight, 235U is the only nuclide existing in nature that is fissile with thermal neutrons. Enriched uranium is a component for both civil nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons. During the Manhattan Project enriched uranium was given the codename oralloy, the term oralloy is still occasionally used to refer to enriched uranium. There are about 2,000 tonnes of enriched uranium in the world, produced mostly for nuclear weapons, naval propulsion. At present,95 percent of the stocks of depleted uranium remain in secure storage. Uranium as it is directly from the Earth is not suitable as fuel for most nuclear reactors. Uranium is mined underground or in an open pit depending on the depth in which it is found. After the uranium ore is mined, it must go through a process to extract the uranium from the ore. 1% uranium. Naturally-occurring uranium is made of a mixture of U-235 and U-238, the U-235 is fissile meaning it is easily split with neutrons while the remainder is U-238, but in nature, more than 99% of the extracted ore is U-238. Most nuclear reactors require enriched uranium, which is uranium with higher concentrations of U-235 ranging between 3. 5% and 4. 5%, there are two commercial enrichment processes, gaseous diffusion and gas centrifugation. Both enrichment processes involve the use of uranium hexafluoride and produce enriched uranium oxide, reprocessed uranium is a product of nuclear fuel cycles involving nuclear reprocessing of spent fuel. Low-enriched uranium has a lower than 20% concentration of 235U, for instance, in light water reactors. Fresh LEU used in research reactors is usually enriched 12% to 19. 75% U-235, highly enriched uranium has a 20% or higher concentration of 235U. 4% 235U being required. For criticality experiments, enrichment of uranium to over 97% has been accomplished, the very first uranium bomb, Little Boy dropped by the United States on Hiroshima in 1945, used 64 kilograms of 80% enriched uranium. Wrapping the weapons fissile core in a neutron reflector can dramatically reduce the critical mass, because the core was surrounded by a good neutron reflector, at explosion it comprised almost 2.5 critical masses. The presence of too much of the 238U isotope inhibits the nuclear chain reaction that is responsible for the weapons power. The critical mass for 85% highly enriched uranium is about 50 kilograms, for the secondary of a large nuclear weapon, the higher critical mass of less-enriched uranium can be an advantage as it allows the core at explosion time to contain a larger amount of fuel
13.
Thermonuclear weapon
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A thermonuclear weapon is a nuclear weapon that uses the energy from a primary nuclear fission reaction to compress and ignite a secondary nuclear fusion reaction. The result is greatly increased power when compared to single-stage fission weapons. It is colloquially referred to as a bomb or an H-bomb because it employs the fusion of isotopes of hydrogen. The first full scale thermonuclear test was carried out by the United States in 1952, similar devices were developed by the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, China, and France. The radiation implosion mechanism is an engine that exploits the temperature difference between the secondary stages hot, surrounding radiation channel and its relatively cool interior. This temperature difference is maintained by a massive heat barrier called the pusher. If made of uranium, as is almost always the case, it can capture neutrons produced by the reaction and undergo fission itself. In many Teller–Ulam weapons, fission of the pusher dominates the explosion, detailed knowledge of fission and fusion weapons is classified to some degree in virtually every industrialized nation. Born secret is rarely invoked for cases of private speculation, in a small number of prior cases, the U. S. government has attempted to censor weapons information in the public press, with limited success. According to the New York Times, physicist Kenneth Ford defied government orders to remove classified information from his new book, Building the H Bomb, the state of public knowledge about the Teller–Ulam design has been mostly shaped from a few specific incidents outlined in a section below. At a bare minimum, this implies a primary section consists of an implosion-type fission bomb. The energy released by the primary compresses the secondary through a process called radiation implosion, at which point it is heated, surrounding the other components is a hohlraum or radiation case, a container that traps the first stage or primarys energy inside temporarily. The outside of this case, which is also normally the outside casing of the bomb, is the only direct visual evidence publicly available of any thermonuclear bomb components configuration. Numerous photographs of various thermonuclear bomb exteriors have been declassified, generally, a research program with the capacity to create a thermonuclear bomb has already mastered the ability to engineer boosted fission. The secondary is usually shown as a column of fusion fuel, around the column is first a pusher-tamper, a heavy layer of uranium-238 or lead that serves to help compress the fusion fuel. Inside this is the fuel itself, usually a form of lithium deuteride. This dry fuel, when bombarded by neutrons, produces tritium, inside the layer of fuel is the spark plug, a hollow column of fissile material that, when compressed, can itself undergo nuclear fission. The tertiary, if one is present, would be set below the secondary, separating the secondary from the primary is the interstage
14.
Nuclear weapons tests in Australia
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The United Kingdom conducted 12 major nuclear weapons tests in Australia between 1952 and 1957. These explosions occurred at the Montebello Islands, Emu Field and Maralinga, several books have been written about nuclear weapons testing in Australia. These include Britain, Australia and the Bomb, Maralinga, Australias Nuclear Waste Cover-up and My Australian Story, Atomic Testing, The Diary of Anthony Brown, Woomera,1953. In 2006 Wakefield Press published Beyond belief, the British bomb tests, Australias veterans speak out by Roger Cross and veteran and whistleblower, the British conducted testing in the Pacific Ocean at Malden Island and Kiritimati known at the time as Christmas Island between 1957 and 1958. These were airbursts mostly occurring over water or suspended a few hundred metres above the ground by balloon, in Australia there were three sites. Testing was carried out between 1952 and 1957 and was mostly done at the surface, a few hundred smaller scale tests were conducted at both Emu Creek and Maralinga between 1953 and 1963. A testing site at Maralinga was established in 1955, close to a siding along the Trans-Australian Railway, because supplies could be brought to the site via rail, it was preferred over Emu Creek. A total of seven tests were conducted at Maralinga. Both the Federal government and Australian newspapers at the time were very supportive of the tests, in 1952, the Liberal Government passed legislation, the Defence Act 1952, which allowed the British Government access to remote parts of Australia to undertake atmospheric nuclear weapons tests. The general public were unaware of the risks from the testing program, stemming from official secrecy about the testing program. Before the tests could begin the Maralinga Tjarutja, the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land, had to be removed. An air base at nearby Woomera, which had used for rocket testing, was initially used as a base from which planes were flown for testing of the bomb clouds. Some resourceful investigative journalists emerged and political scrutiny became more intense, in June 1993, New Scientist journalist Ian Anderson wrote an article entitled Britains dirty deeds at Maralinga and several related articles. Opposition to the tests grew throughout the 1950s, a poll in 1957 found that almost half the population were against them
15.
Amersham plc
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The company had its roots from a national centre set up in 1946 for the development and manufacture of radioactive materials for peacetime uses in medicine, scientific research and industry. This centre originated in the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority but in 1971 was split out into The Radiochemical Centre Ltd, the company was privatised in 1982 under the name Amersham International plc. It was the first company to be privatised by the Thatcher government and this business was sold by Kodak to Johnson & Johnson and became known as Johnson & Johnson Clinical Diagnostics Ltd. The business is now called Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Ltd, but is owned by Johnson & Johnson. In 1997 Pharmacia Biotech, then owned by Pharmacia & Upjohn, was fused with Amersham Life Science, the Pharmacia name of this subsidiary was later dropped when Pharmacia & Upjohn sold its share of the company to Amersham plc, and changed its name to Amersham Biosciences in 2001. In 1997, Amersham merged with Nycomed to form Nycomed Amersham plc, in 1999, the Nycomed Pharma subsidiary was sold to Nordic Capital, and in 2001 Nycomed Amersham plc was renamed to Amersham plc. In 2004, Amersham was acquired by the American firm General Electric, the global headquarters of GE Healthcare is situated in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire, England, and, as such, is the first GE business unit headquarters to be situated outside the United States. Amershams former business segments have become two business segments of GE Healthcare, GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics and GE Healthcare Life Sciences, pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom 2004 archive copy of Amersham plc website
16.
Radionuclide
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A radionuclide is an atom that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. During those processes, the radionuclide is said to undergo radioactive decay, the unstable nucleus is more stable following the emission, but will sometimes undergo further decay. Radioactive decay is a process at the level of single atoms. However, for a collection of atoms of an element the decay rate. The range of the half-lives of radioactive atoms have no known limits, Radionuclides occur naturally and are artificially produced in nuclear reactors, cyclotrons, particle accelerators or radionuclide generators. There are about 730 radionuclides with half-lives longer than 60 minutes, with the longest half lives are the 32 primordial radionuclides that have survived from the creation of the Solar System. Over 60 further radionuclides are detectable in nature, either as daughters of these, more than 2400 radionuclides have half-lives less than 60 minutes. Most of those are produced artificially, and have very short half-lives. For comparison, there are about 254 stable nuclides, even the lightest element, hydrogen, has a well-known radionuclide, tritium. Elements heavier than lead, and the elements technetium and promethium, unplanned exposure to radionuclides generally has a harmful effect on living organisms including humans, although low levels of exposure occur naturally without harm. However, radionuclides with suitable properties are used in medicine for both diagnosis and treatment. An imaging tracer made with radionuclides is called a radioactive tracer, a pharmaceutical drug made with radionuclides is called a radiopharmaceutical. On Earth, naturally occurring radionuclides fall into three categories, primordial radionuclides, secondary radionuclides, and cosmogenic radionuclides, Radionuclides are produced in stellar nucleosynthesis and supernova explosions along with stable nuclides. Most decay quickly but can still be observed astronomically and can play a part in understanding astronomic processes, primordial radionuclides, such as uranium and thorium, exist in the present time because their half-lives are so long they have not yet completely decayed. It is possible decay may be observed in other nuclides adding to this list of primordial radionuclides, secondary radionuclides are radiogenic isotopes derived from the decay of primordial radionuclides. They have shorter half-lives than primordial radionuclides and they arise in the decay chain of the primordial isotopes thorium-232, uranium-238 and uranium-235. Examples include the natural isotopes of polonium and radium, cosmogenic isotopes, such as carbon-14, are present because they are continually being formed in the atmosphere due to cosmic rays. Many of these radionuclides exist only in trace amounts in nature, secondary radionuclides will occur in proportion to their half-lives, so short-lived ones will be very rare
17.
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd
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British Nuclear Fuels Limited was a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. Until 2003 its headquarters were based at Risley, near Warrington, BNFLs headquarters were then moved to Daresbury Park industrial estate, also near Warrington. On 1 April 2005, BNFL formed a new holding company, in 2005, it transferred all of its nuclear sites to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. It then sold its Westinghouse Electric Company subsidiary in February 2006, later, BNFL sold the separate companies that made up its major subsidiary, British Nuclear Group, leaving a decommissioning and reprocessing organisation which became Sellafield Ltd. By May 2009, BNFL had completed the sales of all its assets and had no remaining operational activities or businesses, BNFL continued to exist only as a legal entity to meet all pension liabilities and any obligations arising from disposal programmes. However, on 14 October 2010, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, British Nuclear Fuels Limited was set up in February 1971 from the demerger of the production division of the UK Atomic Energy Authority. In 1984 BNFL became a limited company as British Nuclear Fuels plc. Under the chairmanship of Christopher Harding, the Windscale plant was renamed as Sellafield, US subsidiary BNFL Inc was established in 1990 and specialised in decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear sites. In 1996 the UKs eight most advanced plants, seven Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor and one Pressurised Water Reactor were privatised as British Energy. The oldest reactors, the Magnox sites, were not attractive for commercial operations, on 30 January 1998 Magnox Electric was merged into BNFL as BNFL Magnox Generation. In 1999 it was discovered that BNFL staff had been falsifying some MOX fuel quality assurance data since 1996, a Nuclear Installations Inspectorate investigation concluded that the level of control and supervision. BNFL had to pay compensation to the Japanese customer, Kansai Electric, BNFLs Chief Executive John Taylor resigned, after initially resisting resignation when the NIIs damning report was published. As a consequence of crisis, a possible partial privatisation of BNFL was delayed by two years. In 1999 BNFL acquired Westinghouse Electric Company, the nuclear power businesses of CBS. Westinghouses businesses are fuel manufacture, decommissioning of nuclear sites and reactor design, construction, Westinghouse was acquired as a possible core for the privatisation of a portion of BNFL. In 2000 BNFL also purchased the businesses of ABB for £300 million. This company, which was merged into Westinghouse, had interests in the United States, Europe. In June 2000 BNFL took a 22. 5% stake in Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Ltd in South Africa, in January 2003 the research and development arm of BNFL was relaunched as Nuclear Sciences and Technology Services
18.
Springfields
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Springfields is a nuclear fuel production installation in Salwick, near Preston in Lancashire, England. The site is operated by Springfields Fuels Limited, under the management of Westinghouse Electric UK Limited. Fuel products are produced for the UK’s nuclear power stations and for international customers, the site has been making nuclear fuels since the mid-1940s. The site is notable for being the first nuclear plant in the world to produce fuel for a power station. Decommissioning activities have so far resulted in 87 buildings on the site having been fully demolished
19.
Capenhurst
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According to the 2001 Census, Capenhurst had a population of 237, increasing to 380 at the 2011 Census. Capenhurst was a township in Shotwick Parish of the Wirral Hundred and included parts of the hamlets of Dunkirk, the population was 147 in 1801,148 in 1851,159 in 1901 and 253 in 1951. Capenhurst is home to a uranium enrichment plant owned by Urenco Group, adjacent, but separate fronm this is the Capenhurst Technology Park. This contains EA Technology, and other spin-off companies, Capenhurst village has its own railway station, on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. The local amateur team, Capenhurst Villa, play in the Carlsberg West Cheshire League. The local Rugby Union team play in the South Lancs & Cheshire Division 3, the village also has a Cricket club consisting of two Saturday sides that currently play in Div 3 & 5W of the Cheshire Cricket Alliance. All three sports teams share the Capenhurst Sports Fields and Pavilion, the main route for phone calls between Ireland and the United Kingdom was via the submarine fibre optic cable UK-Ireland 1, landed at Holyhead, Anglesey, then transmitted by a microwave link. Campbell claimed that calls were monitored by GCHQ until 1998 when the Irish telecommunication system was changed, the tower was demolished in 2004. Listed buildings in Capenhurst Holy Trinity Church, Capenhurst Photos of tower Alan Turnbulls page on the tower Richard Lamonts page on the tower hackHull
20.
Sellafield
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Sellafield is a nuclear fuel reprocessing and nuclear decommissioning site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station and it is the site of the worlds first commercial nuclear power station to generate electricity on an industrial scale. Sellafield was previously owned and operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and then, following the division of UKAEA in 1971, since 1 April 2005, it has been owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and is now operated by Sellafield Ltd. In 2008, the NDA awarded Nuclear Management Partners the position of Parent Body Organisation of Sellafield Ltd. under their standard management model for NDA sites. This consortium, composed of US company URS, British company AMEC, on 13 January 2015, the NDA announced that NMP would lose the management contract for Sellafield Ltd. The new structure, which came into effect on 1 April 2016, activities at the Sellafield site primarily support decommissioning of historic plants, and reprocessing fuel from UK and international nuclear reactors. Decommissioning projects include the Windscale Piles, Calder Hall, historic reprocessing facilities, waste stores, Reprocessing plants include the THORP nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, the Magnox nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, and the Waste Vitrification Plant. The site contains several nuclear waste stores, with the Low Level Waste Repository 6 km away at Drigg, the UKs National Nuclear Laboratory also has its Central Laboratory on the Sellafield site. Sellafield was a rural community situated on the west coast of North-West England in the current county of Cumbria in the parish of St Bridget Beckermet between the rivers Calder and Ehen. It consisted of High Sellafield and Low Sellafield, which incorporated in the Sellafield Royal Ordnance Factory during its construction in the Second World War. The coming of the railway to west Cumberland in the century. ROF Sellafield was constructed by John Laing & Son in 1942 at Low Sellafield as a Second World War Royal Ordnance Factory, the nearby sister factory, ROF Drigg which produced TNT had been constructed in 1940,5 km to the south-east and adjacent to the village of Drigg. ROF Drigg and ROF Sellafield were built in isolated and remote coastal sites because of the hazardous nature of the process. They were both classed as Explosive ROF specialising in high-explosive TNT and propellant, and production ceased at both factories immediately following the defeat of Japan, the site was renamed Windscale to avoid confusion with the Springfields uranium processing factory near Preston. The building of the plants at Windscale Works was a huge construction project. Windscale Pile No.1 was operational in October 1950, Windscale was also the site of the prototype British advanced gas-cooled reactor. With the creation of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority in 1954, the first of four Magnox reactors became operational in 1956 at Calder Hall, adjacent to Windscale and across the River Calder, and the site became Windscale and Calder Works. Following the break-up of the UKAEA into a division and a production division, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd in 1971
21.
Chapelcross nuclear power station
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Chapelcross was a Magnox nuclear power plant located near Annan in Dumfries and Galloway in south west Scotland. It was the plant to the Calder Hall plant in Cumbria. The primary purpose of both plants was to produce plutonium for the UKs nuclear weapons programme, but they also generated electrical power for the National Grid. Chapelcross was the plant to Calder Hall in Cumbria, England. Construction was carried out by Mitchell Construction and was completed in 1959, the primary purpose was to produce plutonium for the UKs nuclear weapons programme. Electricity was always considered to be a by-product, the Chapelcross Works was officially opened on 2 May 1959 by the Lord Lieutenant of Dumfriesshire, Sir John Crabbe. It was initially owned and operated by the Production Group of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority until the creation of British Nuclear Fuels Limited in 1971 by an act of Parliament, Chapelcross had four Magnox reactors capable of generating 60 MWe of power each. The reactors were supplied by the UKAEA and the turbines by C. A. Parsons & Company, ownership of all of the site’s assets and liabilities was transferred to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a new regulatory body created as a result of The Energy Act of 2004. The site was operated under the two-tier Site Management Company/Site License Company model by British Nuclear Group’s Reactor Sites business as SMC. In June 2007, EnergySolutions LLC bought the Reactor Sites Management Company Ltd from British Nuclear Group, the Health and Safety Executive granted consent to carry out decommissioning projects at Chapelcross under the regulations to Magnox Electric Ltd on 26 September 2005. The explosions were designed to remove a section of the cooling towers’ shells, approximately two thirds of the circumference and two thirds of the shell legs were removed by the blasts, causing a controlled collapse of each tower. The charges were fired sequentially, reducing the 300 ft high towers to an estimated 25,000 tons of rubble in less than 10 seconds and those at Calder Hall were demolished on 29 September 2007. Some local people were opposed to the obliteration of a symbol of the industrial heritage. The towers were considered a landmark that could be seen from a distance of up to 50 miles in good weather conditions. British Nuclear Group and the NDA prioritised conventional demolition over deplanting, a large part of the shell of tower 1 managed to resist the explosives despite having a visible bulge that resulted from a construction anomaly. By December 2012, three of the four reactors had been defuelled, all fuel was predicted to be removed by mid-2013. Defuelling was completed several months early, in February 2013, since Chapelcross was commissioned from the outset as a four-reactor site rather than separate two-reactor sites as at Calder ‘A’ and ‘B’ stations, the site layout was more compact. There is a turbine hall housing all eight turbines which were originally rated at 23 MW
22.
Nuclear deterrent
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Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons. As a sub-branch of military strategy, nuclear strategy attempts to match nuclear weapons as means to political ends, in addition to the actual use of nuclear weapons whether in the battlefield or strategically, a large part of nuclear strategy involves their use as a bargaining tool. Some of the issues considered within nuclear strategy include, Under what conditions does it serve a nations interest to nuclear weapons. What types of weapons should be developed. When and how should such weapons be used, many strategists argue that nuclear strategy differs from other forms of military strategy. The immense and terrifying power of the weapons makes their use, in seeking victory in a military sense. Perhaps counterintuitively, an important focus of nuclear strategy has been determining how to prevent and deter their use, in the context of nuclear proliferation and maintaining the balance of power, states also seek to prevent other states from acquiring nuclear weapons as part of nuclear strategy. The doctrine of mutual assured destruction assumes that a nuclear deterrent force must be credible and survivable and that is, each deterrent force must survive a first strike with sufficient capability to effectively destroy the other country in a second strike. Therefore, a first strike would be suicidal for the launching country, in the late 1940s and 1950s as the Cold War developed, the United States and Soviet Union pursued multiple delivery methods and platforms to deliver nuclear weapons. Three types of platforms proved most successful and are called a nuclear triad. These are air-delivered weapons, ballistic missile submarines, and intercontinental ballistic missiles, although not considered part of the deterrent forces, all of the nuclear powers deployed large numbers of tactical nuclear weapons in the Cold War. These could be delivered by virtually all platforms capable of delivering large conventional weapons, during the 1970s there was growing concern that the combined conventional forces of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact could overwhelm the forces of NATO. It seemed unthinkable to respond to a Soviet/Warsaw Pact incursion into Western Europe with strategic nuclear weapons, thus, technologies were developed to greatly reduce collateral damage while being effective against advancing conventional military forces. Other technologies were so-called “suppressed radiation devices, ” which produced mostly blast with little radioactivity, making them much like conventional explosives, strangelove, a film satirizing nuclear strategy. Dunn, Lewis A. dead link]Deterrence Today – Roles, Challenges, New Haven, Yale University Press,1966. The Arms Dynamic in World Politics, New York, St. Martins Press,1989. NATO, Britain, France and the FRG, Nuclear Strategies and Forces for Europe, 1949–2000, Strategies and Belief Systems in Britain, France and the FRG, 277p. A Comparison of NATO and WTO War Aims and Strategies, Contemporary European History Vol.7 Part 3, Warsaw Pact Military Doctrines in the 70s and 80s, Findings in the East German Archives, Comparative Strategy Vol.12 No
23.
Atomic Weapons Establishment
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The Atomic Weapons Establishment is responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the United Kingdoms nuclear deterrent. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment with its site on the former RAF Aldermaston and has major facilities at Burghfield, Blacknest. All the sites are owned by the Government of the United Kingdom which has a share in AWE plc. The establishment is the destination for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmaments annual march from Trafalgar Square. The first Aldermaston March was conceived by the Direct Action Committee, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment was established on 1 April 1950, by the Ministry of Supply, at the former RAF Aldermaston airfield. AWREs first Director was William Penney, in 1954 AWRE was transferred to the newly created United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. In 1971 the production activities of UKAEA were transferred to the newly created British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, in 1973 AWRE was transferred to the Procurement Executive of the Ministry of Defence. Parts of AWREs weapons production processes were carried out at two Royal Ordnance Factories, ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff, in 1984 these two ROFs were separated from the other ROFs, which were then formed into a government-owned defence company, Royal Ordnance plc and was privatised in 1987. ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff remained within the Procurement Executive and came under the control of AWRE, in 1987, AWRE was combined with ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff to form the Atomic Weapons Establishment. These sites being renamed AWE Burghfield and AWE Cardiff and it remained with the Ministry of Defence, Procurement Executive. However, in 1989, the UK government announced its intention to find a private company to run AWE under a Government Owned/Contractor Operated arrangement. In 1993 the government awarded a contract to Hunting-BRAE, a consortium of Hunting Engineering, Brown and Root, during Hunting-BRAEs management AWE decommissioned the RAFs WE177 freefall nuclear bomb. In 1998 the company suffered two prosecutions for safety breaches, one for discharge of tritium into a stream and another for an incident where two workers inhaled plutonium. In 1999 Hunting-BRAE lost the contract to AWE Management Ltd, a consortium of BNFL, Lockheed Martin, AWE MLs subsidiary, AWE plc, assumed responsibility for the operation of all AWE sites on 1 April 2000. This was not full privatisation as the Ministry of Defence continued to own all the AWE sites as well as a share in AWE plc. Critics pointed out that BNFL and Lockheed Martin did not have perfect safety records either, BNFL suffered embarrassing revelations of falsified quality checks in nuclear fuels and Lockheed was the subject of scathing reports on the operation of US nuclear facilities. Lockheeds failings included safety concerns at the Y-12 facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in December 2008, the BNFL share in AWE Management Ltd was sold to Jacobs Engineering Group, an American engineering services company. Scientists at AWE were involved in testing for radioactive poison after the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, further tests using spectroscopy designed to detect alpha radiation confirmed the result
24.
Aldermaston
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Aldermaston /ˈɔːldərmɑːstən/ is a mostly rural, dispersed settlement, civil parish and electoral ward in Berkshire, South-East England. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, the parish had a population of 1015, the village is in the south the mid-Kennet alluvial plain and bounds to the south Hampshire. It is roughly equidistant from Newbury, Basingstoke and Reading, centred 46 miles west-by-south-west of London, Aldermaston may have been inhabited as early as 1690 BCE, a number of postholes and remains of cereal grains have been found in the area. Written history of the village is traced back at least as far as the 9th century CE, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles show that the Ealdorman of Berkshire had his country estate in the village. The manor of Aldermaston was established by the early 11th century, when the village was given to the Achard family by Henry I, the village church was established in the 13th century, and some of the original Norman architecture remains in the buildings structure. The last resident Lord of the Manor, Charles Keyser, died in 1929. It was bought by the Praxis Group in 2013 for £4.7 million and is now subject to plans for restoration that include 227 new homes in order to finance the restoration of the manor house and grounds. The name Aldermaston is well known in connection with the UKs nuclear weapons programme, the Atomic Weapons Establishment, which develops, maintains, and disposes of the UKs nuclear weaponry is in the parish. Built on the site of the former RAF Aldermaston, the plant has been the destination of numerous Aldermaston Marches, until 2006, the village was home to the Aldermaston Pottery, which was established by Alan Caiger-Smith and Geoffrey Eastop in 1955. Evidence suggests that Aldermaston was inhabited in the 12th century CE, radiocarbon dating on postholes and pits in the area show activity from 1690 to 1390,1319 to 1214, and 977 to 899 BCE. Wheat and barley grains have been found in these excavations, tests show that most of the barley was dehulled, but that absence of such debris may mean that the cereal was brought in from other areas. Before the 1066 Norman conquest of England, the land and properties of Aldermaston formed part of the estates of Harold Godwinson, the Earl of Wessex, harolds assessment of Aldermaston valued the villages 15 hides at £20 a year. As with much of the seized by William the Conqueror after his arrival in England in 1066. His Domesday Survey of 1086 identified the existence of a mill, worth twenty shillings, during the rest of Williams reign, and that of his son William Rufus, Aldermaston was owned by the Crown. The history of the Lords of the Manor of Aldermaston Court can be traced to Achard DAldermaston, six families have had lordship of the Aldermaston estate. In the 11th century, Henry I gave Aldermaston to Robert Achard of Sparsholt, in the mid-12th century, the Achard family founded the church of St Mary the Virgin. In 1292, Edward I granted the right for the lord of the manor to hold a market in the village, another charter was granted by Henry IV, with evidence that the market existed until approximately 1900. The Achards also established a fair to observe the feast of St. Thomas the Martyr on 7 July
25.
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
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The Ministry of Defence is the British government department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by Her Majestys Government and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MoD states that its objectives are to defend the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its interests and to strengthen international peace. The MoD also manages day-to-day running of the forces, contingency planning. As rearmament became a concern during the 1930s, Stanley Baldwin created the position of Minister for Coordination of Defence. Winston Churchill, on forming his government in 1940, created the office of Minister of Defence to exercise control over the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The post was held by the Prime Minister of the day until Clement Attlees government introduced the Ministry of Defence Act of 1946, the new ministry was headed by a Minister of Defence who possessed a seat in the Cabinet. These departments merged in 1964, the functions of the Ministry of Aviation Supply merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1971. The Ministers in the Ministry of Defence are as follows, The Ministers and Chiefs of the Defence Staff are supported by a number of civilian, scientific, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence is the senior civil servant at the MoD. His or her role is to ensure the MoD operates effectively as a department of the government, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Stephen Lovegrove—commencing April 2016 Defence Equipment & Support CEO - Tony Douglas — commencing 2016 Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Vernon C. He is supported by the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger, Royal Marines. First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Philip Jones, Royal Navy Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, the Surgeon General, represents the Defence Medical Services on the Defence Staff, and is the clinical head of that service. These forces must be capable of representing Britain as lead nation in any coalition operations, the ability, at longer notice, to deploy forces in a large-scale operation while running a concurrent small-scale operation. The MoD has since been regarded as a leader in elaborating the post-Cold War organising concept of defence diplomacy, the UK is establishing air and naval bases in the Persian Gulf, located in the UAE and Bahrain. A presence in Oman is also being considered, the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 included £178 billion investment in new equipment and capabilities. The review set a policy with four primary missions for the Armed Forces, Defend and contribute to the security and resilience of the UK. Contribute to improved understanding of the world through strategic intelligence and the defence network. Reinforce international security and the capacity of our allies, partners. Conduct operations to restore peace and stability, conduct major combat operations if required, including under NATO Article 5
26.
London Stock Exchange
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The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London in the United Kingdom. As of December 2014, the Exchange had a capitalisation of US$6.06 trillion. The Exchange was founded in 1801 and its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pauls Cathedral in the City of London, the Exchange is part of the London Stock Exchange Group. London Stock Exchange is one of the world’s oldest stock exchanges, London Stock Exchange Group was created in October 2007 when London Stock Exchange merged with Milan Stock Exchange, Borsa Italiana. The Royal Exchange had been founded by English financier Thomas Gresham on the model of the Antwerp Bourse and it was opened by Elizabeth I of England in 1571. During the 17th century, stockbrokers were not allowed in the Royal Exchange due to their rude manners and they had to operate from other establishments in the vicinity, notably Jonathans Coffee-House. At that coffee house, a broker named John Casting started listing the prices of a few commodities, exchange rates and certain key provisions such as salt, coal, originally, this was not a daily list and was only published a few days of the week. This list and activity was moved to Garraway’s coffee house. Public auctions during this period were conducted for the duration that a length of tallow candle could burn, as stocks grew, with new companies joining to raise capital, the royal court also raised some monies. These are the earliest evidence of organised trading in securities in London. After Greshams Royal Exchange building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, it was rebuilt and this was a move away from coffee houses and a step towards the modern model of stock exchange. The Royal Exchange not only housed brokers but also merchants and merchandise and this was the birth of a regulated stock market, which had teething problems in the shape of unlicensed brokers. In order to regulate these, Parliament brought out an act in 1697 that levied heavy penalties and it also set a fixed number of brokers, which was later increased as the size of the trade grew. The street in which they were now dealing was known as Exchange Alley, Parliament tried to regulate this and ban the unofficial traders from the Change streets. Traders became weary of bubbles when companies rose quickly and fell, after the Seven Years War, trade at Jonathans coffee house boomed again. In 1773, Jonathan, together with 150 other brokers, formed a club and opened a new and this now had a set entrance fee, through which traders could enter the stock room and trade securities. It was, however, not a location for trading. Fraud was also rife during these times and in order to such dealings
27.
Civil Nuclear Constabulary
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The CNC was established on 1 April 2005, replacing the former Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary established in 1955. The CNC does not guard the United Kingdoms nuclear weapons, this role is the responsibility of the British Armed Forces, the Constabulary is established in Chapter 3, sections 51–71, of the Energy Act 2004. It falls under the remit of the newly formed Department for Business, Energy, the CNCs Annual Report states that. The crime dealt with by officers at civil nuclear sites remains low in volume, the management and investigation of crime does not form any part of the Constabularys mission statement. Whilst the CNC are a force, this acknowledgement would suggest the role of a CNC Police Officer is that of providing armed security. During the year 2010-11, the CNC made 12 arrests, although 2 of those people were de-arrested at the scene, since 1 October 2012 the Chief Constable of the CNC has been Michael Griffiths. Unlike the majority of the British police territorial forces, all frontline CNC officers are armed while carrying out duties. Such ships have an escort of armed police. The CNC is authorised to carry out intelligence operations against anti-nuclear protesters. In July 2009 Judge Christopher Rose said the CNCs approach to activity is conspicuously professional. He found that the system for storing the intelligence gained from informers was working well, of these, three are classed as Operational Units, where an ordinary police presence is maintained, while eight are Support Units, which have an overt armed police presence. This has now changed to two, each headed by a Chief Superintendent as follows, BCU North and Scotland - responsible for nuclear sites in Scotland as well as sites in the north of England. BCU South - responsible for nuclear sites in the south of England, the CNC operates with all of its constables acting as Authorised Firearms Officers. Many of the officers can be seen patrolling their respective sites carrying firearms such as assault rifles, all officers complete firearms training as per the National Firearms Training Curriculum. This curriculum is followed to train Operational, Tactical and Strategic commanders in the force along with Tactical Advisors. The core weapon system for CNC AFOs is the Heckler & Koch G36, all officers are additionally equipped with less-lethal weapons for use against threats that do not justify a firearms response. Such options include PAVA, Taser, ASP and Baton Launchers, the uniform of the force is similar to that of other police forces in the UK. The current uniform replaced the traditional Metropolitan Police-style uniforms in July 2008, a new, more practical uniform was introduced from October 2015
28.
Dounreay
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Dounreay is on the north coast of Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland and west of the town of Thurso. Dounreay was originally the site of a castle and its name derives from the Gaelic for fort on a mound, since the 1950s it has been the site of two nuclear establishments, for the development of prototype fast breeder reactors and submarine reactor testing. Most of these facilities are now being decommissioned, Dounreay formed part of the battlefield of the Sandside Chase in 1437. The nuclear power establishment was built on the site of a World War II airfield and it became HMS Tern when the airfield was transferred to the Admiralty by RAF Coastal Command in 1944, as a satellite of HMS Tern at Twatt in Orkney. It never saw any action during the war and was placed into care, Dounreay is near the A836 road, about 9 miles west of the town of Thurso, which grew rapidly when the research establishment was developed during the mid-20th century. Robert Gordons map of Caithness,1642, uses Dounrae as the name of the castle, william J. Watsons The Celtic Place-names of Scotland gives the origin as Dúnrath, and suggests that it may be a reference to a broch. This is the commonly accepted toponymy, Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment was formed in 1955 primarily to pursue the UK Government policy of developing fast breeder reactor technology. The site was operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Dounreay was chosen as the reactor location for safety reasons, in case of an explosion. The first reactor built was surrounded by a 139-foot steel sphere, the sphere was constructed by the Motherwell Bridge Company. The first of the Dounreay reactors to achieve criticality was the Dounreay Materials Test Reactor in May 1958 and this reactor was used to test the performance of materials under intense neutron irradiation, particularly those intended for fuel cladding and other structural uses in a fast neutron reactor core. Test pieces were encased in uranium-bearing alloy to increase the high neutron flux of the DIDO class reactor. DMTR was closed in 1969 when materials testing work was consolidated at Harwell Laboratory, the second operational reactor was the Dounreay Fast Reactor, which achieved criticality on 14 November 1959, producing an electrical output of 14 MWe. This power was exported to the National Grid from 14 October 1962 until the reactor was taken offline for decommissioning in 1977, during its operational lifespan, DFR produced over 600 million kWh of electricity. DFR and associated facilities cost £15m to build and it was designed to generate 60 MW thermal power and achieve a 2% fuel burn up. DFR was a loop-type FBR cooled by primary and secondary NaK circuits, the reactor core was initially fuelled with uranium metal fuel stabilised with molybdenum and clad in niobium. The core was used to test oxide fuels for PFR and provide experimental space to support overseas fast reactor fuel. The third and final UKAEA-operated reactor to be built on the Dounreay site was the Prototype Fast Reactor, PFR was a pool-type fast breeder reactor, cooled by liquid sodium and fueled with MOX. It achieved criticality in 1974 and began supplying National Grid power in January 1975, the output of PFR was 250 MWe
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Atomic Energy Research Establishment
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In 1945 John Cockcroft was asked to set up a research laboratory to further the use of nuclear fission for both military purposes and generating energy. The criteria for selection involved finding somewhere remote with a water supply, but within reach of good transport links. This more or less limited the choice to the areas around Oxford or Cambridge and it had been decided that an RAF airfield would be chosen, the aircraft hangars being ideal to house the large atomic piles that would need to be built. RAF Harwell was sixteen miles south of Oxford near Didcot and Harwell, the scientists mostly took over both accommodations and work buildings from the departing RAF. The early laboratory had several specialist divisions, Chemistry, General Physics, Nuclear Physics, Reactor Physics, Theoretical Physics, Isotopes, Engineering, Chemical Engineering, finniston was later to become chairman of the British Steel Corporation. Directors after Cockcroft included Basil Schonland, Sir Arthur Vick and Walter Marshall, the decision to site AERE at Harwell had huge implications for a rural area which had depended mainly on agriculture for employment before World War II. The site became one of the employers in the post-war period. It also led to an influx of labour from outside the area, in response to the problem, hostels and temporary housing were established around the site. The hostels were named Icknield Way House, Portway House and Ridgeway House provided either single or double room accommodation for staff and were adopted from existing RAF structures on the site, the class distinction was maintained by the UKAEA. A-Mess housed visiting scientists, B-Mess scientific support staff and some post-graduate scientists, two estates of Prefabs were built to the north and south of the site perimeter, along with a road system and parade of shops. In later years, conventional housing was provided on estates built in Abingdon, Grove, a modern hostel was built in Abingdon. The houses were sold in the 1980s and the hostels were demolished or adapted for other uses. The Prefab estates lasted until the early 1990s when the residents were transferred to local authority housing, such was the interest in nuclear power and the priority devoted to it in those days that the first reactor, GLEEP, was operating by 15 August 1947. GLEEP was a low-power graphite-moderated air-cooled reactor, the first reactor in Western Europe, it operated until 1990. A successor to GLEEP, called BEPO was constructed based on the experience with GLEEP, BEPO was shut down in 1968. LIDO was an enriched uranium thermal swimming pool reactor which operated from 1956 to 1972 and was used for shielding. It was fully dismantled and returned to a field site in 1995. In the same building as LIDO, DAPHNE was constructed to test equipment used in experiments on the two larger reactors, a pair of larger 26 MW reactors, DIDO and PLUTO, which used enriched uranium with a heavy water moderator came online in 1956 and 1957 respectively
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Health and Safety Executive
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The Health and Safety Executive is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom with its headquarters in Liverpool, England. It is the responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare. Responsibility in Northern Ireland lies with the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, the HSE was created by the Health and Safety at Work etc. The HSE is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, as part of its work HSE investigates industrial accidents, small and large, including major incidents such as the explosion and fire at Buncefield in 2005. Though it formerly reported to the Health and Safety Commission, on 1 April 2008, the Executives duties are to, Assist and encourage persons concerned with matters relevant to the operation of the objectives of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Make arrangements for and encourage research and publication, training and information in connection with its work. The Executive is further obliged to keep the Secretary of State informed of its plans and ensure alignment with the policies of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State can give directions to the Executive. On 1 April 2006, the Executive ceased to have responsibility for railway safety, the Executive is responsible for the Employment Medical Advisory Service, which operates as part of its Field Operations Directorate. Local authorities are responsible for the enforcement of health and safety legislation in shops, offices and it was established in 1921 under the Safety in Mines Research Board to carry out large-scale tests related to mining hazards. In 1995 the HSL was formed, including the Buxton site, in 2004 the Sheffield activities moved to Buxton, and the University of Sheffield took over the Sheffield laboratory site. It now operates as an agency carrying out research and investigations for the HSE, other government agencies. HM Inspectorate of Mines is responsible for the implementation and inspection of safe working procedures within all UK mine workings. It is based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, the Offshore Safety Division was established as a division within HSE in April 1991. This was in response to recommendations of the Cullen Inquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster on 6 July 1988, at the time of the disaster the Department of Energy was responsible for both production and offshore safety, this was perceived as entailing a conflict of interests. Dr Tony Barrell, Director of HSE’s Technology and Air Pollution Division was appointed Chief Executive of OSD, at the same time Ministerial oversight was transferred from the DEn to the Department of Employment. The Offshore Safety Act 1992 made the Mineral Workings Act 1971 and its subsidiary Regulations relevant statutory provisions of the Health and Safety at work etc, Act 1974. The OSD’s initial responsibilities included the establishment of the Safety Case Regulations, a review of existing safety legislation. OSD became part of the HSE’s new Hazardous Installations Directorate in 1999, the HSE currently administrates the Occupational Safety & Health Consultants Register, a central register of registered safety consultants within the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
31.
Babcock International
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Although the company has civil contracts, its main business is with public bodies, particularly the UK Ministry of Defence and Network Rail. The company has four operating divisions with overseas operations based in Africa, Babcock is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index. Babcock International traces its history back to 1891 when the American Babcock & Wilcox Company formed a separately financed British company called Babcock & Wilcox Ltd. The UK companys sphere of operation was defined as the world except for North America, for a few years B&W boilers were built in the Singer Manufacturing Companys Kilbowie Works at Clydebank near Glasgow, Scotland. Isaac Singer was a significant shareholder in Babcock & Wilcox, in 1895 Babcock & Wilcox Ltd opened a new boilermaking works, based on the 33-acre site of the Porterfield Forge on the opposite side of the River Clyde near Renfrew. The Renfrew Works grew to over 200 acres by the 1960s, the workload expanded as a result of the two world wars and the supply of defence equipment became another major business area. During the 1940s the workforce at Renfrew peaked at approximately 10,000, in the 1960s the company became involved in the development of the UKs nuclear power stations. In 1979 Babcock & Wilcox Ltd was renamed Babcock International Ltd and this company was floated on the stock exchange in 1982, becoming Babcock International PLC. Babcock & Wilcox Ltd was renamed Babcock Power Ltd which subsequently became Babcock Energy Ltd, in 1987 Babcock merged with FKI Electricals plc, another engineering company to form FKI Babcock PLC. In February 1989 FKI Babcock PLC demerged to form Babcock International Group PLC, in 2006 Mitsui sold the company to Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction a subsidiary company of the Doosan Group of South Korea, at that time the UK company was renamed Doosan Babcock Energy Ltd. In 2009 the Czech-based steam turbine maker, Skoda Power, became part of Doosan Babcock Energy Ltd, in 2000 Babcock took the strategic decision to move away from manufacturing towards maintaining and supporting the critical equipment and infrastructure of customers. In 2002 Babcock was reclassified on the London Stock Exchange from Engineering to Support Services, on 19 June 2002 the Company acquired Service Group International Ltd, a provider of support services in defence and civil markets. It successfully bid for Peterhouse Group plc and on 18 June 2004 its bid was declared unconditional as over 50% of shares were held, on 30 September 2004 it acquired Turner and Partners, a provider of professional services to the telecoms industry. On 7 August 2007 acceptances for the acquisition of International Nuclear Solutions PLC reached 58. 9% of issued share capital and a take-over was then completed. On the 22 April 2008 to further strengthen the brand in the Nuclear sector and submarine support sector and this purchase brought a company with over 50 years of experience in high integrity material handling. In September 2009, Babcock acquired the UK Atomic Energy Authoritys commercial arm, in March 2010, Babcock acquired VT Group for £1. 32bn or 750p a share. Babcock offered 361. 6p a share in cash, as well as 0.7 new Babcock shares for each VT Group share, the acquisition was completed on 8 July 2010. The combined companies created a defence and support group with sales of £3bn and more than 25,000 employees in Britain
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Harwell, Oxfordshire
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Harwell is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse about 2 miles west of Didcot, roughly 6 miles east of Wantage and approximately 13 miles south of Oxford. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire, bus services Harwell benefits from several bus services including Thames Travels X32 and 32A service between Oxford, Didcot and Wantage. Buses run up to every 30 minutes to Wantage and Oxford with buses between Harwell, Didcot and Harwell Campus running up to every 15 minutes during the daytime, the Church of England parish church of Saint Matthew may date from the 11th century. In 1962 The Times reported that walling had been found west of the tower indicating where a former nave had been, the herringbone layering of the masonry suggested that an 11th-century date is likely. At the same time a pewter chalice from about 1200 was found, the present nave, east of the tower, was built in about 1200. This second nave has north and south aisles with three-bay arcades, the west tower may have been begun at the same time, but its Early English Gothic bell openings suggest that it may not have been finished until the middle of the 13th century. The Decorated Gothic chancel is early 14th century and has a five-light east window, the rood screen is probably of the same date, but the screens Perpendicular Gothic top is later. The tower has a ring of eight bells, joseph Carter, who was Master bellfounder at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and also had a foundry at Reading, cast the fourth bell in 1590 and the seventh bell in 1597. William Yare of Reading cast the third and fifth bells in 1611, John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast the treble and second bells in 1932, completing the present ring. St. Matthews has also a Sanctus bell cast by Robert I Wells of Aldbourne, there is a single-handed clock on the towers west face. In 1975 a two-storey extension was built on the wall which now contains a parish office. A new church hall was built in 1994, the house at Middle Farm was a 14th-century hall house, and its service wing may be the remains of a 13th-century building. In 1589 an upper floor was inserted in the 14th-century hall, one of the farms barns has a cruck frame. Geering Almshouses were built by a charity established in 1715 but the houses themselves may not have been built until about 1723, the almshouses are a Grade II* listed building. Harwell once had five houses and a brewery. The Crown is now empty, previously having been a nursing home, the Chequers, The Crispin and The Kicking Donkey have all been converted to private houses. Only The Hart of Harwell continues to trade as a pub, on 4 April 1899 Police Constable John Charlton was killed in an affray outside the Chequers. Until the Second World War Harwell may have been best known for its cherry orchards, in 1937 RAF Harwell was built between Harwell and Chilton
33.
Berkshire
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Berkshire is a county in south east England, west of London. It was recognised as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of Windsor Castle by the Queen in 1957, Berkshire is a county of historic origin and is a home county, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. Berkshire County Council was the main county governance from 1889 to 1998 except for the separately administered County Borough of Reading, in 1974, significant alterations were made to the countys administrative boundaries although the traditional boundaries of Berkshire were not changed. The towns of Abingdon, Didcot and Wantage were transferred to Oxfordshire, Slough was gained from Buckinghamshire, since 1998, Berkshire has been governed by the six unitary authorities of Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham. It borders the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Greater London, Surrey, according to Asser, it takes its name from a large forest of box trees that was called Bearroc. Berkshire has been the scene of notable battles through its history. Alfred the Greats campaign against the Danes included the Battles of Englefield, Ashdown, Newbury was the site of two English Civil War battles, the First Battle of Newbury in 1643 and the Second Battle of Newbury in 1644. The nearby Donnington Castle was reduced to a ruin in the aftermath of the second battle, another Battle of Reading took place on 9 December 1688. It was the only military action in England during the Glorious Revolution. Reading became the new county town in 1867, taking over from Abingdon, boundary alterations in the early part of the 20th century were minor, with Caversham from Oxfordshire becoming part of the Reading county borough, and cessions in the Oxford area. On 1 April 1974 Berkshires boundaries changed under the Local Government Act 1972, Berkshire took over administration of Slough and Eton and part of the former Eton Rural District from Buckinghamshire. 94 Signal Squadron still keep the Uffington White Horse in their insignia, the original Local Government White Paper would have transferred Henley-on-Thames from Oxfordshire to Berkshire, this proposal did not make it into the Bill as introduced. On 1 April 1998 Berkshire County Council was abolished under a recommendation of the Banham Commission, unlike similar reforms elsewhere at the same time, the non-metropolitan county was not abolished. Berkshire divides into two distinct sections with the boundary lying roughly on a north-south line through the centre of Reading. The eastern section of Berkshire lies largely to the south of the River Thames, in two places the county now includes land to the north of the river. Tributaries of the Thames, including the Loddon and Blackwater, increase the amount of low lying land in the area. Beyond the flood plains, the land rises gently to the county boundaries with Surrey, much of this area is still well wooded, especially around Bracknell and Windsor Great Park. In the west of the county and heading upstream, the Thames veers away to the north of the county boundary, leaving the county behind at the Goring Gap
34.
Chester
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Chester is a walled city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales. With a population of 81,340 in 2014, it is the most populous settlement of Cheshire West and Chester, Chester was granted city status in 1541. Chester was founded as a castrum or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian in 79 AD, one of the main army camps in Roman Britain, Deva later became a major civilian settlement. Chester was one of the last cities in England to fall to the Normans, william the Conqueror ordered the construction of a castle, to dominate the town and the nearby Welsh border. Chester is one of the best preserved walled cities in Britain and it has a number of medieval buildings, but some of the black-and-white buildings within the city centre are Victorian restorations. Apart from a 100-metre section, the listed Grade I walls are almost complete, the Roman Legio II Adiutrix during the reign of the Emperor Vespasian founded Chester in AD79, as a castrum or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix. The victrix part of the name was taken from the title of the Legio XX Valeria Victrix which was based at Deva, Central Chesters four main roads, Eastgate, Northgate, Watergate and Bridgegate, follow routes laid out at this time. A civilian settlement grew around the base, probably originating from trade with the fortress. The civilian amphitheatre, which was built in the 1st century and it is the largest known military amphitheatre in Britain, and is also a Scheduled Monument. The Minerva Shrine in the Roman quarry is the rock cut Roman shrine still in situ in Britain. The fortress was garrisoned by the legion until at least the late 4th century, after the Roman troops withdrew, the Romano-British established a number of petty kingdoms. Chester is thought to have part of Powys. Deverdoeu was a Welsh name for Chester as late as the 12th century, another, attested in the 9th century History of the Britons traditionally attributed to Nennius, is Cair Legion, this later developed into Caerlleon and then the modern Welsh Caer. King Arthur is said to have fought his ninth battle at the city of the legions and later St Augustine came to the city to try to unite the church, and held his synod with the Welsh Bishops. In 616, Æthelfrith of Northumbria defeated a Welsh army at the brutal and decisive Battle of Chester and her name is still remembered in St Werburghs Street which passes alongside the cathedral, and near the city walls. It was Alfreds daughter Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, that built the new Saxon burh, a new Church dedicated to St Peter alone was founded in AD907 by the Lady Æthelfleda at what was to become the Cross. Taking the helm of a barge, he was rowed the short distance up the River Dee from Edgars Field to the great Minster Church of St John the Baptist by six tributary kings called reguli. In 1071 he made Hugh dAvranches, who built Chester Castle, from the 14th century to the 18th century the citys prominent position in North West England meant that it was commonly also known as Westchester
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Annan, Dumfries and Galloway
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Annan is a town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Its public buildings include Annan Academy, of which the writer Thomas Carlyle was a pupil, the Town Hall was built in Victorian style in 1878, using the local sandstone. Annan also features a Historic Resources Centre, in Port Street, some of the windows remain blocked up to avoid paying the window tax. Each year on the first Saturday in July, Annan celebrates the Royal Charter, entertainment includes a procession, sports, field displays and massed pipe bands. Annan stands on the River Annan—from which it is named—nearly 2 miles from its mouth and it is 15 mi from Dumfries by rail, in the region of Dumfries and Galloway on the Solway Firth in the south of Scotland. Eastriggs is about 3 mi to the east and Gretna is about 8 mi to the east, Annan Castle formed the original home of the de Brus family, later known as the Bruces, lords of Annandale, which most famously produced Robert the Bruce. It was at Annan in December 1332 that Bruce supporters overwhelmed Balliols forces to bring about the end of the first invasion of Scotland in the Second War of Scottish Independence, the Balliols and the Douglases were also more or less closely associated with Annan. During his retreat from Derby, Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed in the High Street at the inn where LAuberge now stands, with the river embanked, Annan served as a maritime town whose shipyards built many clippers and other boats. A cairn on the jetty commemorates Robert Burns, who worked as an exciseman here in the 1790s, although the port is now mainly dry, a few stranded boats remain. Annan Academy has a history that goes back to the 17th century and its current campus on St Johns Road primarily dates to the 1960s. Annan previously formed a constituency of the Parliament of Scotland and the Convention of Estates, in 1871, the Dumfries Burghs had a population of 3172 and the royal burgh of Annan,4174, governed by a provost and 14 councillors. A Harbour Trust was established in 1897 to improve the port, by 1901, the population was 5805, living principally in red sandstone buildings. The train turntable was designed and developed in Annan, it can be today in the York Railway Museum. Just outside the town, the Chapelcross nuclear power station has now shut down and is being decommissioned, the four cooling towers were demolished in 2007. Nearby, John Maxwell, 4th Lord Herries, built Hoddom Castle, to the east of the town lies the settlement of Watchill and the similarly named Watchhall. Part of the A75, between Annan and Dumfries, is reported to be haunted, Annandale distillery has now officially re-opened in Annan, which last produced a Lowland Malt 90 years ago, although it is still in early stages. In the 19th century, Annan was connected to the Glasgow & Southwestern Railway, the Caledonian Railway, and it exported cured hams, cattle, sheep, and grain to England, it also produced cotton goods, ropes, ships, and salmon. By the First World War, it was also a center of bacon-curing, distilling, tanning, sandstone quarrying, Annan Bridge, a stone bridge of three arches, built between 1824 and 1827, carries road traffic over the River Annan
