UK universities get huge funding from nuclear industry

University links to nuclear weapons maker ‘worth £8 million a year’ More than 50 universities have received funding from the UK’s national laboratory for nuclear weapons since 2010, according to a new study.Times Higher Education, 12 Feb 14 The links are worth £8 million a year to the higher education sector and fund physics, materials science, high-performance computing and manufacturing research, as well as academic posts, studentships and conference support, the report says.

Some of the research is believed to have “dual use potential” – in both civilian and military applications – claims the two-year study published by Nuclear Information Service (NIS) and Medact, who both campaign against nuclear weapons proliferation.

The report found that five universities have “strategic alliances” with the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) – where the UK’s nuclear weapons are designed an manufactured – with some of the relationships worth millions of pounds.

The AWE has also developed partnerships with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, says the Atoms for Peace report published today.

Pete Wilkinson, director of the NIS, warned universities and researchers “of the risks from being seduced into murky waters by the lure of the Atomic Weapons Establishment’s cash”.

While some of the research work funded by the AWE in British universities provides benefits to society and is welcome, work which will allow the UK to retain and develop its nuclear weapons over the long term has no place on the campus,” he said.

NIS and Medact used the Freedom of Information Act to gather the data and say that this is the first time that a description of the links between universities and the AWE has been published…….

The AWE’s five strategic alliances involve the University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, Cranfield University, Heriot-Watt University and Imperial College London, the report says. Under these agreements, the AWE awarded Imperial College more than £7.7 million between 2010 and mid-2012, and Cranfield University more than £3.3 million over the same period, it claims.

The University of Cambridge has received almost £2 million from the AWE since 2010, it adds. A statement from Cambridge said……http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/university-links-to-nuclear-weapons-maker-worth-8-million-a-year/2011307.article