DE&S Pol SecAsstHd3 
Defence Equipment & Support 
 
 
 
 
 
#2045 Maple 0a 
 
MOD Abbey Wood 
Bristol BS34 8JH 
[email address] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mr Martin Butcher 
Our Reference: 153652-005 
[FOI #9761 email]  
 
Date: 25 June 2009 
 
 
 
 
 
Dear Mr Butcher, 
 
Request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000  
 
Further to my letter of 24 April 2009, in response to your Freedom of Information (FOI) 
request, I am writing to provide you with a substantive response.  In your request you 
asked for information on experiments and other research on US warhead designs carried 
out at the Atomic Weapons Establishment since 1992, requesting information on where 
work was carried out by UK or US personnel and from which US laboratory, and indicating 
costs incurred by AWE Aldermaston in this work.  
 
In the timescale in question, the US has used neither AWE facilities nor AWE personnel 
for research activities which benefitted only the US Nuclear Weapons Programme. The 
United States has, however, participated, and continues to participate, in collaborative 
work with the UK at AWE Aldermaston to mutual benefit.  These are under the auspices of 
the 1958 UK/US Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA).  Such collaborative activities ensure 
the continued safety, security and performance of the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent, 
and demonstrate the UK’s commitment to the 1958 MDA.  It is not possible, however, to 
distinguish between activities and costs relevant to US warhead design and activities and 
costs relevant to other collaborative work. We therefore consider that we do not hold any 
information that falls within the scope of your request. 
 
If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the 
handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance.  If informal 
resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an 
independent internal review by contacting the Head of Corporate Information, 6th Floor, 
MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail [email address]).  Please note that 
any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on 
which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end. 
 
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the 
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of 
Information Act.  Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your 
case until the MOD internal review process has been completed.  Further details of the 
 

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role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's 
website, http://www.ico.gov.uk. 
 
I hope this is helpful. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
DES Sec Policy Secretariat 
 
For Director Secretariat and Communications 
 

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