13/01/2008

Brown Nuke family - British Nuclear Bomb factory to be sold to americans

PRESS RELEASE – 10th JANUARY 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRITISH NUCLEAR BOMB FACTORY TO BE UNDER AMERICAN CONTROL

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament today expressed its concern that Britain’s Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston may soon come under majority control of US-corporations. The Government is currently in the process of selling-off the one-third stake in AWE Management Ltd that it owns through BNFL, with two US engineering groups, Fluor Corporation and Jacobs Engineering Group identified as the only remaining bidders.

Responding to the news, as reported in the Financial Times [see note 2], Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said, “For anyone that mistakenly supports Britain’s possession of a nuclear weapons system on the basis that it is distinct from the US, this news discredits that argument more than ever before. When not only the missiles are leased from the US, but the very warheads may now be put under the control of American companies, the illusion that Trident is an independent system is shakier than ever. Agreeing to spend vast amounts on replacing Britain's nuclear weapons is looking increasingly like a massive cash injection for US corporations, and less and less related to any genuine concern for Britain's security."

Protestors from Wales will be at the demonstration and action at AWE Aldermaston on Easter Monday, 24th March - the 50th Anniversary of the first march from London to the Atomic Weapons Establishment. The event at Aldermaston will include a symbolic march by a Japanese delegation of survivors of the Hiroshima bomb. The call will be 'The Bomb Stops Here', to end nuclear weapons production at Aldermaston, and achieve nuclear disarmament.

ends

Notes to Editors:

1. For further information and interviews please contact Ben Soffa, CND's Press & Communications Officer, on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859 CND Cymru 01495 773 180

2. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dad955fe-bf1d-11dc-8c61-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

3. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe’s biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 35,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere. www.cnduk.org

Is this a surprise when gordon Brown is up to his neck in nuke spin!!! See http://www.nuclearspin.org/index.php/Gordon_Brown

Gordon Brown

Background

Britain's "Prime Minister-Elect," who has been Britain's Chancellor since 1997.

Following in Tony's Nuclear Footsteps

In May 2007, before the Labour government's second consultation on nuclear power, The Observer reported how Gordon Brown had already made up his mind over nuclear. "The Prime Minister-elect will give the green light to the plans that will show that he is backing Tony Blair's support of the nuclear industry", reported the paper. "The Chancellor will signal his support this week for a dramatic renewal of the nuclear power programme that will see the building of up to eight new stations, possibly within 15 years." [1] (http://www.nuclearspin.org/index.php/Gordon_Brown#endnote_obs)

Keep It In The Family, Gordon

What makes this decision politically sensitive, is that Gordon Brown has close family connections to the nuclear industry. His younger brother Andrew Brown works for EDF Energy, the UK subsidiary of EDF, which operates nuclear power stations in France, and which is one of the leading companies pushing for a nuclear rebuild programme in the UK. Andrew Brown was appointed as EDF Energy's Head of Press on 13 September 2004. Previously, he worked for the lobbying company Weber Shandwick. [2] (http://www.nuclearspin.org/index.php/Gordon_Brown#endnote_PI) [3] (http://www.nuclearspin.org/index.php/Gordon_Brown#endnote_BrownEDF)

One of Brown's key advisors is Ed Balls, whose father-in-law Tony Cooper is a long-standing nuclear lobbyist. [4] (http://www.nuclearspin.org/index.php/Gordon_Brown#endnote_Cooperbiog) [5] (http://www.nuclearspin.org/index.php/Gordon_Brown#endnote_TonyCooperbiog)

Articles

  1. ^ Nicholas Watt, Oliver Morgan and Robin McKie, "Brown's Vision for a Nuclear Britain", The Observer, May 20, 2007
  2. ^, No named author, Private Eye issue 1151, p8, February 2006
  3. ^ EDF Energy press release 'Andrew Brown to head media team at EDF Energy' (http://edfenergy.com/html/showPage.do?name=edfenergy.media.news.item.til&cmsPage=/opencms/export/www.edfenergy.com/media/news/20040913.html), September 13, 2004.
  4. ^ Biography on Yvette Cooper's website (http://www.yvettecooper.com/bio01_dw.htm), undated, accessed February 2006.
  5. ^ Tony Cooper's biography on Nuclear Decommissioning Authority website (http://www.nda.gov.uk/About_the_NDA--Biographies--Biographies_(489).aspx?pg=489#Tony%20Cooper), undated, accessed February 2006.


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