1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement is a bilateral treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom on nuclear weapons cooperation.

It was signed after the UK successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb during Operation Grapple. Whilst the US has nuclear cooperation agreements with other countries, including France and some NATO countries (see nuclear sharing), this agreement is by far the most comprehensive.

Contents

[edit] Details of the agreement

The agreement enables the US and the UK to exchange classified information with the objective of improving each party's "atomic weapon design, development, and fabrication capability". This includes development of defence plans; training personnel in the use and defence against nuclear weapons; evaluation of enemy capabilities; development of nuclear delivery systems; and research, development and design of military reactors. The agreement also provides for the transfer of special nuclear material (e.g. plutonium, highly enriched uranium, tritium), components, and equipment between the two countries, and the transfer of "non-nuclear parts of atomic weapons" to the UK.

The agreement also covered the export of one complete US submarine nuclear propulsion plant and its enriched uranium fuel which was installed in the UK's first nuclear powered submarine, HMS Dreadnought.

The UK was able to carry out underground nuclear tests at the US Nevada Test Site, the first taking place on 1 March 1962, following this agreement.[1]

There are also confidential intelligence matters covered by the agreement. The UK government has not published these sections "because of the necessity for great confidentiality and because ... it might well assist proliferation".[2]

This agreement replaced the earlier "Agreement for Cooperation Regarding Atomic Information for Mutual Defense Purposes" of 1955. A separate Polaris Sales Agreement was signed on April 6, 1963.

[edit] Assistance to UK nuclear weapons development

An early benefit of the agreement was to allow the UK to "Anglicise" the US W28 nuclear warhead as the Red Snow thermonuclear weapon for the Blue Steel missile by 1961.[3] In 1974 a CIA proliferation assessment noted that "In many cases [Britain's sensitive technology in nuclear and missile fields] is based on technology received from the US and could not legitimately be passed on without US permission."[4]

The U.S. President authorised the transfer of "nuclear weapon parts" to the UK between at least the years 1975 to 1996.[5][6]

The UK National Audit Office noted that most of the UK Trident warhead development and production expenditure was incurred in the U.S. who would supply "certain warhead-related components".[7][8] Some of the fissile materials for the UK Trident warhead were purchased from the U.S.[8] There is evidence that the warhead design of the British Trident system is similar to, or even based on, the US W76 warhead fitted in some US Navy Trident missiles, with design and blast model data supplied to the UK.[9][10]

[edit] Special nuclear materials barter

Under the agreement 5.37 tonnes of UK produced plutonium was sent to the US in return for 6.7kg of tritium and 7.5 tonnes of highly enriched uranium over the period 1960-1979. A further 0.47 tonne of plutonium was swapped between the US and the UK for reasons that remain classified.[11] Some of the UK produced plutonium was used in 1962 by the US for the only known nuclear weapon test of reactor-grade plutonium .[12]

The plutonium sent to the US included some produced in UK civil Magnox reactors, and the US gave assurances that this civil plutonium was not used in the US nuclear weapons program. It was used in civil programmes which included californium production and reactor research. However the UK did obtain military nuclear material in return, so via this barter UK civil power stations probably provided weapons material.

[edit] Controversy

Because the UK relies heavily on US assistance to maintain and develop its nuclear arsenal, this has raised questions about whether this level of cooperation is in breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Despite this, in 2004 negotiations were completed to extend the treaty for 10 years to 2014.[13]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ UK Mounts First Underground Nuclear Test (UGT). Atomic Weapons Establishment. Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  2. ^ UK-US Mutual Defence Agreement. Lords Hansard - column 1119. Hansard (22 Jun 2004). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  3. ^ Yellow Sun MK.2 Enters Service. Atomic Weapons Establishment. Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  4. ^ Prospects for Further Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Special National Intelligence Estimate, CIA, 23 August 1974, p. 40, SNIE 4-1-74, <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB240/snie.pdf>. Retrieved on 20 January 2008 
  5. ^ National Security Decision Memorandum 276. U.S. National Security Council (October 15, 1974). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  6. ^ National Security Directive 61. The White House (July 2, 1991). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  7. ^ Dan Plesch (March 2006). "The Future of Britain’s WMD". 15. Foreign Policy Centre Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  8. ^ a b (29 June 1987) Ministry of Defence and Property Services Agency: Control and Management of the Trident Programme. National Audit Office, para. 1.1, 3.27, A4.4. ISBN 0102027889. 
  9. ^ Britain's Next Nuclear Era. Federation of American Scientists (December 7, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  10. ^ Stockpile Stewardship Plan: Second Annual Update (FY 1999). U.S. Department of Energy (April 1998). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  11. ^ Plutonium and Aldermaston - an historical account. UK Ministry of Defence (4 September 2001). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  12. ^ Additional Information Concerning Underground Nuclear Weapon Test of Reactor-Grade Plutonium. U.S. Department of Energy (June 1994). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
  13. ^ Amendment to the 1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement (on nuclear weapons' cooperation). British American Security Information Council (June 2004). Retrieved on 2007-03-15.

[edit] External links