TEUTATES

Military Capability

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: Not disclosed
Published schedule: 01/04/2013 – 01/07/2030
NISTA delivery confidence: Exempt under Section 27 - International relations
Senior responsible owner: Adrian Orchard

What the project is for

As part of the 2010 Lancaster House Agreements, a Treaty was established on a joint radiographic/hydrodynamics capability with France known as TEUTATES. The trials will be in a jointly operated facility but conducted on a national basis and are needed to underwrite the safety and performance of our nuclear weapon stockpile. TEUTATES covers the joint construction, funding, and operation of a new hydrodynamics facility in France, at Epure, near Dijon, and a technology development centre and interim firing point in the UK at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, at Aldermaston. The TEUTATES facilities will enable each country to undertake hydrodynamic experiments in a secure environment. The hydrodynamic facilities use radiography to measure the performance of materials at extremes of temperature and pressure. This enables us to model the performance and safety of the nuclear weapons in our current stockpile without undertaking nuclear explosive tests, and will make an important contribution to assuring the performance, safety and reliability of our next generation of nuclear weapons.

Departmental delivery commentary

Exempt under Section 27 - International relations

Schedule

Exempt under Section 27 - International relations

Cost

Exempt under Section 27 - International relations

Benefits

Exempt under Section 27 - International relations