THE Ministry of Defence (MoD) has denied a top secret project that will renew the UK’s nuclear weapons has been halted due to design and management difficulties.

The £634m Project Pegasus will bring a new facility to AWE Aldermaston for manufacturing enriched uranium nuclear warhead components and highly enriched uranium fuel pellets for use in nuclear submarine reactors.

The plant will replace the existing 60-year-old A45 facilities at Aldermaston, allowing the site to continue manufacturing nuclear weapons.

But the Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said the project, which will replace Trident, is on hold after it received information from a response to a Freedom of Information request.

A spokeswoman said: “The project delivery timescales are under review by MoD and AWE, but in the shortterm, ONR’s regulatory effort is effectively on hold.”

She added: “Whilst ONR clearly have an interest in the outcome from this review we have not yet received an update from AWE regarding their revised scope and delivery schedule.

As such to-date we have not been able to generate any corresponding regulatory schedule.”

The MoD insisted work is ongoing, although it was being kept “under close review”, at both project Pegasus and its sister project Mensa, a £734m scheme to build a similar facility at AWE Burghfield in Berkshire by the end of 2015.

An MoD spokeswoman said: “Work is continuing on the Pegasus project – it is not on hold.

“Both projects Mensa and Pegasus are part of the wider Nuclear Warhead Capability Sustainment Programme at AWE. All elements of this programme are routinely kept under close review to ensure they meet the MOD’s requirements.”

She added: “ONR have got a slightly different definition from us on what’s on hold.”

AWE declined to comment.

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