UK nuclear weapons program provides £8 million to universities yearly

The Guardian : Freedom of Information Act requests to the UK’s Ministry of Defense and to a range of universities throughout the UK have revealed that more than 50 universities receive funding from the Atomic Weapons Establishment . AWE is a private consortium that runs nuclear plants in the UK and maintains the Trident nuclear missile system . The majority of the £8 million ($13.1 million) goes to Imperial College London and the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol, Heriot-Watt, and Cranfield. The documents were obtained by the Nuclear Information Service and Medact, which believe the funding goes to developing the UK’s nuclear weapons technology. The universities claim that the funding is primarily for blue skies research and for maintaining the safety of the nation’s nuclear stockpile.