British nuclear tests at Maralinga: Difference between revisions
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==Major tests== |
==Major tests== |
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On the |
On the [[October 3]], [[1952]] the United kingdom trialled its first atomic weapon, named "Hurricane", at Montebello Islands off the coast of west Australia. |
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A year later the first atomic test on the Australian mainland was Totem 1 at Emu field on the 15th of October 1953 (10 kilotons). Totem 2 (8 kilotons) followed on the 27th of October. |
A year later the first atomic test on the Australian mainland was Totem 1 at Emu field on the 15th of October 1953 (10 kilotons). Totem 2 (8 kilotons) followed on the 27th of October. |
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Revision as of 11:05, 14 September 2006
The Maralinga atomic weapons test site was set up on the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia during the early 1950s, as a joint test facility between the British and Australian governments. It is located at 30°10′S 131°37′E / 30.167°S 131.617°E.
The site
The site was initially surveyed by the Australian explorer and surveyor, Len Beadell, and is located just north of Ooldea on the Trans-Australian Railway. It comprised a township and 2,500 metre long runway, with test areas set up as required. Previous tests had been conducted at Emu Field, which was further north, and which had presented logistical challenges to the operators. The proximity of the railway was a prime concern in the establishment of the site.
Major tests
On the October 3, 1952 the United kingdom trialled its first atomic weapon, named "Hurricane", at Montebello Islands off the coast of west Australia.
A year later the first atomic test on the Australian mainland was Totem 1 at Emu field on the 15th of October 1953 (10 kilotons). Totem 2 (8 kilotons) followed on the 27th of October.
The resultant mushroom cloud from Totem 1 descended as a "black mist" and drifted 250 kilometres north west to Wallantina where it caused death and sickness among Aboriginal people camped there.
Two major test series were conducted at the site: Operation Buffalo and Operation Antler.
Operation Buffalo commenced on September 27, 1956. The operation consisted of the testing of four nuclear devices, codenamed One Tree, Marcoo, Kite and Breakaway respectively. One Tree (27 September 1956, 15 kilotons) and Breakaway (22 October 1956, 10 kilotons) were exploded from towers, Marcoo was exploded at ground level, and Kite (11 October 1956, 3 kilotons) was released by a Royal Air Force Vickers Valiant bomber from a height of 30,000 feet. This was the first launching of a British atomic weapon from an aircraft.
Operation Antler followed in 1957. Antler was designed to test the triggering mechanisms of the weapons. Three tests began in September, codenamed Tadje, Biak and Taranaki. The first two tests were conducted from towers, the last was suspended from balloons. Yields from the weapons were 1 kiloton, 6 kilotons and 25 kilotons respectively.
Minor tests
In addition to the major tests, a large number of minor trials were also carried out, from 1953 and extended through to 1963. Although the major tests had been carried out with some publicity, the minor tests were carried out in absolute secrecy.
These were to leave the most dangerous legacy at Maralinga. Tiny pellets of plutonium were scattered by conventional explosives over large tracts of desert and are believed to still lay on the surface post clean up operations.
The four series of minor trials were codenamed Kittens, Tims, Rats and Vixen. In all, these trials included up to 700 tests, with some tests involving experiments with plutonium.
As an example, Operation Vixen was formulated to investigate what would happen to a nuclear device which burnt or was subject to a non nuclear explosion (possibly after an aircraft accident). Amongst other experiments, plutonium was burnt in petrol fires. It was the subsequent disposal of the waste plutonium from these minor trials which created the major radiation problems at the site.
Out of 11,700 personnel (generally aged in their late teens to early twenties) who worked in the area over a 10 year period in the 1950's and 1960's there were over 10,300 persons who had died by 2005 and approximately 90 percent of those were from cancer[citation needed].
Cleanup
The cleanup operation was codenamed Operation Brumby, and was conducted in 1967. Initially, the debris (which included up to 24 kilograms of plutonium) was buried in pits or covered with topsoil.
The McClelland Royal Commission into the tests delivered its report in late 1985, and found that significant radiation hazards still existed at many of the Maralinga test sites, particularly at Taranaki, where the Vixen B trials into the effects of burning plutonium had been carried out. As a result of the Royal Commission, a much more extensive cleanup program was initiated at the site, with large areas of surface soil being buried in purpose built pits. Debate continues regarding the habitability of the test areas by their traditional inhabitants, although all fallout is now decayed and there can be no health effects from it.