News

Joe Mahmoud, who completed his PhD at the University of Manchester in December 2021, won the prestigious 2022 Materials Science Thesis Prize – jointly sponsored by AWE and the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers. Joe’s thesis concentrated on the development of new methods for the rapid separation of americium from complex matrices. This research […]

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 […]

A £5,000 donation has been made to a local charity that supports babies and their families after being chosen by AWE staff. BIBS (Babies in Buscot Support) offers support and equipment for families in the special care baby unit at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. BIBS raises funds to support families and babies that are either […]

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 […]

AWE is joining in the celebrations for British Science Week – which runs from 11th to 20th March in 2022 – and its programme of national events with the aim of celebrating science, engineering, technology and maths (STEM). AWE has shown its support by making a series of donations to local schools allowing them to purchase […]