Jump to content

Nuclear weapons tests in Australia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The detonation of Operation Hurricane at the Montebello Islands on 3 October 1952, the first British nuclear weapon test conducted in Australia.

Between 1952 and 1963, the British Government, with the agreement and support of the Australian Government, carried out nuclear weapons tests in Australia as part of its early nuclear weapons programme.[1] The tests included 12 major nuclear weapon detonations conducted between 1952 and 1957 at the Montebello Islands off the coast of Western Australia, and at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia.[1] Hundreds of smaller trials, predominately conducted at Maralinga between 1953 and 1963, were also carried out to support British nuclear weapons development.[1][2]

Sites

[edit]

The British conducted testing in the Pacific Ocean at Malden Island and Kiritimati known at the time as Christmas Island (not to be confused with Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean) between 1957 and 1958.[3] These were airbursts mostly occurring over water or suspended a few hundred metres above the ground by balloon.[3]

In Australia there were three sites. Testing was carried out between 1952 and 1957 and was mostly done at the surface.[3] A few hundred smaller scale tests were conducted at both Emu Field and Maralinga between 1953 and 1963.[4][1][2]

Montebello Islands

[edit]

Two separate atomic test projects occurred at the islands, the first being Operation Hurricane and the second being Operation Mosaic. Following the second Mosaic explosion, the radioactive cloud that was supposed to be taken away from the site, was sent back by wind that was not anticipated by the British scientists.[5]

Major tests at Montebello Islands[2][1]
Name Date Yield Type
Operation Hurricane/Mosaic
Hurricane3 October 1952 11:15 25 ktIn the hull of HMS Plym
Mosaic One16 May 1956 11:15 15 ktTower
Mosaic Two19 June 1956 10:14 60 ktTower

Emu Field

[edit]

The atomic tests at Emu Field in 1953 were known as Operation Totem. The test site of Emu Field was abandoned just hours after the second and final test, Totem 2.

Major tests at Emu Field[2][1]
Name Date Yield Type
Operation Totem
Totem One15 Oct 1953 07:00 10 ktTower
Totem Two27 Oct 1953 07:00 8 ktTower

Maralinga

[edit]

A testing site at Maralinga was established in 1955, close to a siding along the Trans-Australian Railway. Because supplies could be brought to the site via rail, it was preferred over Emu Field. A total of seven major tests were conducted at Maralinga. Both the Federal government and Australian newspapers at the time were seemingly supportive of the tests.[6] In 1952, the Liberal Government passed legislation, the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952, which allowed the British Government access to remote parts of Australia to undertake atmospheric nuclear weapons tests. The general public were largely unaware of the risks from the testing program, stemming from official secrecy about the testing program and the remote locations of the test sites.[5][1][7]

Before the tests could begin the Maralinga Tjarutja, the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land, were forcibly removed.[8][1][5]

An air base at Woomera, 570 km away, which had been used for rocket testing, was initially used as a base from which planes were flown for testing of the bomb clouds.[8]

Major tests at Maralinga[2][1]
Name Date Yield Type
Operation Buffalo
One tree27 Sep 1956 17:00 12.9 ktTower
Marcoo04 Oct 1956 16:30 1.4 ktGround-level
Kite11 Oct 1956 14:27 2.9 ktAirdrop
Breakaway22 Oct 1956 00:05 10.8 ktTower
Operation Antler
Tadje14 Sep 1957 14:35 0.93 ktTower
Biak25 Sep 1957 10:00 5.67 ktTower
Taranaki09 Oct 1957 16:15 26.6 ktBalloon

According to Liz Tynan from James Cook University, the Maralinga tests were a striking example of extreme secrecy, but by the late 1970s there was a marked change in how the Australian media covered the British nuclear tests. Avon Hudson, an atomic veteran who participated as an Australian serviceman during the later stage Minor Trials became a prominent whistleblower. Some resourceful investigative journalists emerged and political scrutiny became more intense.[9] In June 1993, New Scientist journalist Ian Anderson wrote an article entitled "Britain's dirty deeds at Maralinga" and several related articles.[10]

Minor Trials

[edit]

Over a decade, 1953 to 1963, a series of "Minor Trials" occurred testing components of the Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs using in some instances radioactive and toxic materials, such as Plutonium, Beryllium, and Uranium. Most of the minor trials involved conventional explosions to map out the radioactive dispersion and contamination of military assets, building structures and early crash test dummies. The Minor Trial of Vixen A dispersing Plutonium over a wide area by conventional explosive was considered to have had the longest half-life of any test or trial conducted in Australia.[11]

Minor trials name, location and radioactive material[12]
Year Location Trial Material Quantity (kg)
1953Emu Field KittenBeryllium 0.036
1955Naya 3 TimsUranium 13.8
1955Naya KittensUranium 5
1955–1957Naya KittensBeryllium 0.75
1955–1957Kittens area KittensUranium 120
1956–1960Kuli TM4 TimsUranium 6605
1956–1958Naya 1 RatsUranium 151
1957Naya TimsBeryllium 1.6
1957Naya 3 KittensUranium 23.4
1957Wewak Vixen AUranium 67.8
1957Dobo RatsUranium 28
1957Taranaki Vixen BUranium 25
1959Wewak VK33 Vixen APlutonium 0.008
1959Wewak VK29 Vixen ABeryllium 0.14
1959Wewak VK28 Vixen ABeryllium 0.25
1959Wewak VK27 Vixen ABeryllium 0.27
1959Wewak VK30 Vixen ABeryllium 0.1
1959–1960Kuli TM11 TimsBeryllium 26.2
1959–1960Kuli TM11 TimsUranium 67
1960Naya TM100 TimsPlutonium 0.6
1960–1962Naya 2 KittensUranium 32
1960–1961Kuli TM16 TimsBeryllium 39
1961Kuli TM50 TimsUranium 90
1961Naya TM101 TimsPlutonium 0.6
1961Wewak VK60A Vixen APlutonium 0.294
1961Wewak VK60C Vixen APlutonium 0.277
1961Wewak 60A Vixen ABeryllium 1.72
1961Wewak 60B Vixen ABeryllium 1.72
1961–1963Taranaki Vixen BBeryllium 17.6

Opposition

[edit]

Opposition to the tests grew throughout the 1950s. A poll in 1957 found that almost half the population was against them.[13]

Health effects

[edit]

The British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA) was set up in 1983 to gain recognition and restitution for personnel who took part in British and American tests in Australia.[14]

Veterans have claimed that they were treated as 'human guinea pigs' and that lives have subsequently been ruined as the testing had negative medical effects that last for generations, including cancers and children born with disabilities and genetic defects. [2][15]

The veterans disagree with the Ministry of Defence that there is no correlation between health effects and the tests, and that “no information is withheld”.[1][7][15] [16]

Documentation

[edit]

Several books have been written about the testing including Britain, Australia and the Bomb, Maralinga: Australia's Nuclear Waste Cover-up and Atomic Testing: The Diary of Anthony Brown, Woomera, 1953 from the My Australian Story series.

In 2006 Wakefield Press published Beyond belief: the British bomb tests: Australia's veterans speak out by Roger Cross and veteran and whistleblower, Avon Hudson. Investigative journalist Susie Boniface wrote Exposed: The Secret History of Britain's Nuclear Experiments in 2024.[17]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "British nuclear weapons testing in Australia". Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Carter, Michael; Robotham, Francis; Wise, Keith; Williams, Geoffrey; Crouch, Philip (2006). Australian participants in British nuclear tests in Australia: Vol 1: Dosimetry (PDF) (Report). Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN 1-920720-38-3. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 United Nations Scientific Committee On The Effects Of Atomic Radiation (2000). Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation: UNSCEAR 2000 Report to the General Assembly, with Scientific Annex. United Nations Publications. p. 176. ISBN 9211422388. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  4. ↑ Kalmykov, Stepan N. (2010). Actinide Nanoparticle Research. Springer. p. 342. ISBN 978-3642114328. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 Walker, Frank (2014). MARALINGA. Sydney, NSW: Hachette Australia. ISBN 978-0733635939.
  6. ↑ Lines, William J. (1991). Taming the Great South Land: A History of the Conquest of Nature in Australia. University of California Press. p. 214. ISBN 0520078306. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  7. 1 2 Williams, G A; O'Brien, R S; Grzechnik, M; Wise, K N (April 2017). "Estimates of radiation doses to the skin for people camped at Wallatinna during the UK Totem 1 atomic weapons test". Radiation Protection Dosimetry. 174 (3): 322–336. doi:10.1093/rpd/ncw192. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  8. 1 2 McAuley, Gay (2006). Unstable Ground: Performance and the Politics of Place. Peter Lang. p. 210. ISBN 9052010366. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  9. ↑ Liz Tynan (November 2013). "Dig for secrets: the lesson of Maralinga's Vixen B". Chain Reaction #119.
  10. ↑ Philip Jones (5 April 2000). "Ian Anderson obituary". The Guardian.
  11. ↑ Boniface, Susie (4 January 2021). "The Damned: Chapter 2 - The 'Minor' Trials". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  12. ↑ "3.2 Minor Tests". Department of Veteran's Affairs. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  13. ↑ Australian Government. A toxic legacy: British nuclear weapons testing in Australia.
  14. ↑ "BNTVA - What We Do". BNTVA. 29 November 2024.
  15. 1 2 Gun, Richard; Parsons, Jacqueline; Ryan, Philip; Crouch, Philip; Hiller, Janet (May 2006). Australian participants in British nuclear tests in Australia: Vol 2: Mortality and cancer incidence (PDF) (Report). Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN 1-920720-39-1. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
  16. ↑ Jack Seale (20 November 2024). "Britain's Nuclear Bomb Scandal: Our Story review – how the UK's atomic testing programme devastated lives". The Guardian.
  17. ↑ Exposed: The Secret History of Britain's Nuclear Experiments. 29 November 2024. ASIN 1036121003.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nuclear_weapons_tests_in_Australia&oldid=1367340432"