Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Orford ... - English Heritage

Figure 43: An aerial photograph showing the development of the AWRE area to April 1965.
OS/65054 V108 30 April 1965 (c) Crown Copyright. Ordnance Survey
of defence research programmes. Furthermore, as warhead technology matured,
compared to the multitude of experimental types it was possible to standardise on a
small number of warhead variants, some of which remained in service for a number
of decades. Another consequence of renewed nuclear co-operation between Britain
and the United States, and the presence of American derived technology on the site
was increased security measures within the establishment. These included the erection
of a fence around The Street and the fitting of crude steel doors to some of the test
structures.
The scaling back in the number of projects, coupled with a reduction in the size of
weapons may have resulted in the mothballing of Laboratory 1 F3, which allowed its
Control Room F4 to be modified for use with the new Impact Facility F5. In 1962,
alterations were carried out to the plant room of Laboratory 2 F1and it was probably at
this date that the centrifuge was installed.
Uniquely, the Impact Facility F5 may be confidently associated with a specific weapons
© ENGLISH HERITAGE
61
10 - 2009