Belgium and the UK have become embroiled in a row after the Belgian government blocked the export of technology that is critical for maintaining the British nuclear deterrent, despite both countries being Nato allies.
The dispute has been escalated by warnings within the Belgian government that Britain has threatened to cancel an arms order worth up to £514.90 million (€600 million) for machineguns made by Belgium’s FN Herstal unless the export is authorised.
Senior Belgian government sources are worried that the row endangers western unity and Nato at a time of war in Europe.
Two weeks ago, the federal Belgian government refused authorisation for a specialised isostatic press needed to maintain Britain’s nuclear arsenal because the greens, which make up a fragile ruling coalition, vetoed the export.
The technology, a specialised high-pressure isostatic press used in the nuclear industry for handling radioactive waste, is made by the American-Belgian company EPSI in Antwerp.
An export licence, required after Brexit, was seen as a formality before Belgium’s deputy prime minister Georges Gilkinet, who is a member of the green party Ecolo, blocked it due to opposition to nuclear weapons and the arms industry.
A senior Belgian government source said the presses were “unique in the world”, according to the Flemish BusinessAM website .
“This is hallucinatory. We are allies within Nato and in the context of a huge conflict on the borders of Europe. And now Ecolo is going to say that we are not allowed to supply weapons to our own Nato partner?”
The press is used as part of the manufacturing process in Britain’s Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, responsible for the design, manufacture and maintenance of British nuclear warheads.
Military sources said Britain’s nuclear deterrent would remain fully operational without the Belgian-made equipment. “Whilst we are aware of the ongoing challenge, the equipment does not affect the continuous at sea deterrent,” a Royal Navy source said.
Britain’s strategic nuclear deterrent is constantly deployed at sea in atomic-powered ballistic missile submarines, HMS Vanguard, HMS Victorious, HMS Vigilant and HMS Vengeance.
The submarines carry the Royal Navy’s Trident II D5, a submarine-launched ballistic missile system with a range of over 4,000 nautical miles.
The row has become public in recent days, despite being classified as a Belgian defence secret and has now escalated with the British threat to cancel contacts worth between £257.40 and £514.90 million (€300 and €600 million) that are vital to the economy of Belgium’s industrial south.
The leaks of the “highly sensitive military information” to Belgium’s LN24 broadcaster have resulted in a political battle that could collapse Belgium’s seven-party coalition.
The decision is still contested within the government, according to local sources, and there is a question mark over the future of jobs and investment at FN’s factory near Liège.
Georges-Louis Bouchez, the president of the liberal MR party, which is part of the coalition, called on Ecolo to “get a grip” and stop pouring “ridicule” on Belgium.
“Refusing the sale of equipment to Great Britain is the greatest of dogmatic stupidity. It is not acceptable,” he said.
During a debate in parliament yesterday, Georges Dallemagne, a Christian Democrat MP, said Britain was a valuable ally. He added: “This is all the more outrageous given the UK’s consistent military involvement in Nato . . . and in particular in the Ukrainian conflict where we should be following the example of our British allies.”
Simon Middleburgh at Bangor University described how hot isostatic presses can be used to compact and consolidate nuclear waste. “At extreme temperatures and pressures, they squeeze it into extremely dense forms, similar to the way rocks are produced in the earth’s crust, which are then less likely to degrade over time — through, for instance, leaching and dissolution.”
For the Atomic Weapons Establishment, it was “going to be a road-block” to have the order cancelled. “I imagine some of their waste streams will be vastly improved with this form of processing, and this will delay the rollout of this useful technology until alternative hardware is sourced,” Middleburgh added.
