It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) with its main site on the former RAF Aldermaston and has major facilities at Burghfield, Blacknest and RNAD Coulport.

[1] In November 2020, it was announced that the Ministry of Defence had triggered a contractual break point and would take ownership of AWE Plc in July 2021.

In 1971, under the provisions of the Atomic Energy Authority Act 1971, the production activities of UKAEA were transferred to the newly created British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL).

In 1998 the company suffered two prosecutions for safety breaches, one for discharge of tritium into a nearby stream[6] and another for an incident where two workers inhaled plutonium.

Lockheed's failings included safety concerns at the Y-12 facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, an American weapons plant similar in certain ways to Aldermaston.

No gamma rays were detected; however, the BBC reported that a scientist at AWE, who had worked on Britain's early atomic bomb programme decades before, recognised a small spike at an energy of 803 kilo-electron volts (keV) as the gamma ray signal from polonium-210, a critical component of early nuclear bombs, which led to the correct diagnosis.

[11] In July 2015 the Office for Nuclear Regulation issued an improvement notice to AWE demanding that it demonstrate that it has a long-term strategy for managing Higher Active radioactive Waste in order to reduce the risk to the public and its employees.

[12] In 2011 a project named MENSA to construct a new warhead assembly and disassembly facility at Burghfield had been approved, to be completed in 2017 at a cost £734 million.

[13][14] In November 2020, it was announced that the Ministry of Defence had triggered a contractual break point and would take ownership of AWE Plc in July 2021.

[15] AWE is tasked to help the United Kingdom maintain a credible and effective minimum nuclear deterrent: A significant programme of investment took place over the three-year period from 2005 to 2008, of about £350 million per year, to provide assurance that the existing Trident missile warhead is reliable and safe throughout its intended in-service life.

[18] On 3 August 2010 a fire broke out in the explosives processing area at AWE Aldermaston, resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents from their homes.