§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has made arrangements under the 1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement on atomic energy matters, as amended, to obtain the test results from the Armando sub-critical nuclear test at the Nevada test conducted on 25 May by the US National Nuclear Security Administration. [177067]
§ Mr. IngramThere are regular United Kingdom/United States exchanges on a range of nuclear stockpile stewardship matters under the auspices of the 1958 UK/US Mutual Defence Agreement (Cmd 537 as amended). These exchanges have included briefings on the scope and outcome of US sub-critical experiments carried out at the Nevada Test Site, precise details of which are being withheld under the terms of Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. Data from sub-critical experiments, which are consistent with our obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, is valuable in maintaining confidence in the safety and reliability of our nuclear weapons. A review of the science behind this programme was published in Nature in February 2002.