Download Thesis
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Knowledge management and institutional development within the British Nuclear Weapons Programme, 1947-1993 Chapman, Geoffrey Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 26. Sep. 2021 Knowledge Management and Institutional Development within the British Nuclear Weapons Programme, 1947-1993 Submitted by Geoffrey Chapman 05/2020 As a Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) In the Department of War Studies King’s College London 1 Table of Contents Knowledge Management and Institutional Development within the British Nuclear Weapons Programme, 1947-1993 ................................................................................................................ 1 Dedication ................................................................................................................................... 6 Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................. 7 Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Research Question & Theoretical Framework ............................................................. 10 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Problem Statement ........................................................................................................................... 10 Research Question ............................................................................................................................ 11 Why Does It Matter? ..................................................................................................................... 12 Why Britain? .................................................................................................................................. 15 Framework ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Introduction: What is Knowledge management? ......................................................................... 18 Knowledge Management Concepts and Nuclear Weapons ............................................................. 19 Explicit Knowledge ........................................................................................................................ 19 Tacit Knowledge ............................................................................................................................ 23 Collective Knowledge .................................................................................................................... 31 Management and Leadership ....................................................................................................... 32 Secrecy .......................................................................................................................................... 35 Heterogeneous Engineering ......................................................................................................... 37 Oversight and Autonomy .............................................................................................................. 40 Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 2: Methodology ............................................................................................................ 44 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 44 Method ............................................................................................................................................. 44 Why Qualitative? .......................................................................................................................... 44 Contemporary Terminology .......................................................................................................... 46 Process Tracing ............................................................................................................................. 47 British Case Studies ........................................................................................................................... 49 High Explosives Research (1947-1952) ......................................................................................... 51 AWRE (1954-1958) ........................................................................................................................ 54 Polaris Improvement Programme (1960-1970) ............................................................................ 57 Kings Norton to TASM (1970-1993) .............................................................................................. 60 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 62 Chapter 3: Fighting for HER (1947-1952) ..................................................................................... 63 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 63 Context .............................................................................................................................................. 65 Economic ....................................................................................................................................... 65 American Assistance ..................................................................................................................... 67 Hampered by Secrecy ....................................................................................................................... 68 ‘Public’ announcement ................................................................................................................. 71 Secrecy and Priority ...................................................................................................................... 72 Debates over Priority: Limited Resources ......................................................................................... 75 1949: Rapid Expansion .................................................................................................................. 76 Competing for Skills: Existential Threat ........................................................................................ 77 The Personal and Political ............................................................................................................. 81 Prioritisation’s Impact on HER: the ARE Split .................................................................................... 83 Centralisation and Competition over Skilled Staff ........................................................................ 83 Resolving Skill Shortages: Staff Recruitment and Retention ............................................................ 90 Essential Bomb Components: Houses, Buses and Salaries ........................................................... 92 Lord Cherwell: An ‘Unsatisfactory’ Nuclear Programme? ................................................................ 95 Greater Autonomy: Towards the UKAEA ...................................................................................... 97 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 100 Chapter 4: AWRE and the Thermonuclear Programme (1954-1958) ........................................... 103 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 103 Consistent Political Commitment ............................................................................................... 105 Imminent Test Ban: Limited Time Frame .................................................................................... 108 Resources