Latest News

AWE has today (23 June) acknowledged a Prohibition Notice issued by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. The Notice prohibits entry into a part of AWE’s Plutonium Technology Centre, at the Aldermaston site, which is classified as a ‘confined space,’ unless a safe system of work is in place. An AWE spokesperson said: “We remain absolutely […]

To mark the achievements of women engineers, AWE celebrated International Women in Engineering Day on 23 June

Landmark commissioning project combines AWE’s experience in creating extreme environments with the world-leading capabilities of the European XFEL light source. Scientists can find out a lot about materials and the inner workings of our universe by recreating extreme environments, like those at the centre of giant planets, here on Earth. These experiments help to push […]

Over 30 AWE sponsored postgraduate students gathered at the Materials Student Conference 2022 – held recently at Pembroke College, University of Oxford – to present their work, research and achievements in materials science. The students, who came from universities across the UK, gave oral presentations and poster sessions on areas of particular interest to AWE’s […]

Our charity partner Thrive helps a range of clients at its Reading centre and gardens. The charity’s clients have a wide range of conditions, including physical or learning disabilities, mental health support needs, sensory loss or autism. Thrive’s trained horticultural therapists work with clients so they can enjoy the health benefits that gardening and spending […]

When our research has the potential to impact on industry more widely, we use patents as a means of sharing the benefits of technological innovations. In December 2021, Physicists David Hillier and David Winter were granted a patent for a technology they originally developed for the Orion laser facility to help it accurately measure signals […]

The exchange of information and knowledge between organisations is known to help innovation and scientific discovery. At AWE, we have a long history of working with the US national laboratories, and secondments are an important part of that relationship. Matt Hill, Plasma Physicist, joined AWE in 2008 and works on high energy density material physics […]

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has today (31 March 2022) announced that AWE has delivered ‘significant and sustained’ safety improvements at its Burghfield licensed site, resulting in its move to ‘routine’ regulatory attention. The improvements demonstrated by AWE at the Burghfield site were driven by its Structured Improvement Programme (SIP) and its holistic approach […]

On 8 March AWE marked International Women’s Day – a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and raising awareness about gender equality. This year’s theme of ‘Break the Bias’ featured in a series of events. The day’s virtual events started with a panel discussion – featuring guest panellists from […]

AWE is incredibly proud to announce that it has achieved a prestigious silver award and been ranked within the top 200 companies for the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index (WEI) 2022.The Stonewall WEI is a benchmarking tool that assesses a company’s achievements and progress on LGBTQ+ equality. AWE is com​mitted to equality at work and to […]

11 February is International Women and Girls in Science Day, a day dedicated to recognising the achievements of women across the field to inspire girls to study science at school and empower women to pursue a scientific career. We spoke to Paula Rosen, Materials Physics Team Leader, about her career at AWE and what we […]

AWE’s latest supercomputer, Vulcan, entered active service just before Christmas, boosting AWE’s impressive research and simulation capabilities even further. At Vulcan’s official opening ceremony AWE CEO Alison Atkinson and executive directors Andrew Randewich and Tony Mather were joined by VIPs from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), including Mark Armstrong, vice-president and general manager EMEA HPC, and […]

We are delighted to announce that Paula Rosen has been awarded Fellow status by the UK Institute of Physics (IOP). This is their highest category of membership and is awarded following a rigorous application process involving an external sponsor and an independent review panel. Paula is a Team Leader in Material Physics where she manages […]

Since 2016 AWE, in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Engineering and the University of Bristol, has supported a fellowship at the University of Bristol, led by Professor Tom Scott. Prof. Scott’s research and eminence in materials science has contributed to AWE’s work, in particular the development of radiation detection and mapping technologies. The relationship […]

AWE is celebrating a hat-trick with success in all of its shortlisted categories at the recent Employee Benefits Awards 2021. These industry awards recognise excellence and celebrate those who have made a significant difference through their reward and benefits strategies. AWE had success in all of the three categories that it was shortlisted for – […]

AWE welcomes the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Report 2020/21 published today (19 October 2021) by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). We are pleased that the ONR acknowledges continued safety improvements in many areas at our Aldermaston and Burghfield sites over the reporting period (1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021). A decision will be […]

AWE has published its latest Gender Pay Gap Report. The report covers data for this year and last year in line with Government publications guidance during the COVID 19 pandemic. Read more here

AWE‘s Chief Executive Officer, Alison Atkinson, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. She is one of 69 academics, business leaders and innovators elected to the Fellowship, for their outstanding contributions to engineering and technology.

On 17 August, the United States’ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) announced that it had obtained a 1.3 MegaJoule (MJ) yield of neutron energy at its National Ignition Facility (NIF). AWE welcomes this very significant achievement, a scientific first. Such high energy ignited plasmas are a very valuable tool in the process of underwriting nuclear […]

 A legacy of innovation Since its beginnings, AWE has been synonymous with innovation in defence. We have pioneered advanced capabilities, facilities, and cutting-edge research for UK’s nuclear deterrence programme. Recently, we commissioned a new supercomputer called Damson, capable of performing 4.3 million billion calculations per second. Orion, one of the largest lasers in the world, […]