Skip to main content

Daily Mirror

Nuke veterans exposed to radiation 'so important records could be kept', documents say

One document shows top brass concerned about monitoring the fallout 'without undue hazard to personnel' - and it talks about measuring radiation absorbed by humans

Nuclear test veterans HMS Diana Mirror
Survivor Archie Hart says he was a "guinea pig" and called for justice(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)

Government medical experts agreed to expose sailors to cancer-causing levels of radiation, because otherwise “important records and observations should be lost”.

Shocking new documents have been unearthed proving top brass intended to expose servicemen to more than a decade’s worth of normal background radiation in just a day.


The revelation comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to “take personal charge” of resolving decades of injustice for veterans of Britain’s nuclear weapons tests.


Archie Hart, 84, who was one of the crew exposed and now has 100 benign tumours all over his body, said: “This proves what I’ve always suspected - we were guinea pigs, sent into danger by men who were sat safe behind a desk in Whitehall.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to listen to the test veterans(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
READ MORE: Boris Johnson promises to give nuclear test veterans 'recognition they deserve'READ MORE: UK officials knew deadly radiation risks of nuclear weapons tests at the time

The revelations are within 300 pages of 1956 memos about Operation Mosaic, in which destroyer HMS Diana was ordered to sail through the nuclear fallout of two atomic bombs, for a total of 16 hours.

Article continues below

They state that “this was the first operation by one of HM ships to gain first-hand experience about fallout and contamination” and “what hazards if any to engineering personnel are to be expected as a result of passage through fallout from atomic weapons”.

One memo shows top brass concerned about monitoring the fallout “without undue hazard to personnel”. It talks about measuring radiation absorbed by humans, and adds: “Diana will not be able to determine such values.”

The papers show the Director of Physical Research suggesting “low” radiation limits for Diana’s crew equivalent to 13 years’ worth of background radiation, “higher” doses equal to 87 years’, and a “special” dose the same as 219 years’ worth.


Nuclear test veterans Archie Hart (bottom-left), John Morris (bottom-right) and Alan Owen (M) and Susie Boniface (M) meet the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham (R) and the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotherham (L), in Manchester, to discuss the fight for justice with the families of nuclear testing on Christmas Island in the 1950's.
Nuclear test veterans Archie Hart (bottom-left), John Morris (bottom-right) and Alan Owen (M) and Susie Boniface (M) meet the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham (R) and the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram (L), in Manchester, to discuss the fight for justice with the families of nuclear testing on Christmas Island in the 1950's.(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)
READ MORE: Shame of 7 governments as cover-up of deaths of UK nuclear test veterans exposedREAD MORE: Winston Churchill's hero betrayed by his country as commando death 'linked to nuke tests'

The documents show Medical Director General of the armed forces John Morley Holford agrees to the doses, saying he “appreciates that in these infrequent, and very expensive, operations it is reasonable that some slight risks should be incurred by personnel rather than that important records and observations should be lost”.

Holford, who went on to become personal physician to the Queen, goes on to add that “older men should be chosen rather than younger ones” for the highest doses, “if it is practicable”.


He does not explain why, but radiation was known at the time to have genetic effects. Today, children of test veterans show 10 times the normal rate of birth defects.

In 2006, scientists reported that the sort of doses described in the papers as “low” could cause cancers. Earlier this year, a government study revealed that 58 per cent of HMS Diana’s 282 crew have since died, two thirds of them from cancer.

Her captain, John Gower, later said parts of his ship were left “unacceptably hot” with radiation, and complained about a lack of medical follow-up for his crew.


After retirement, he said it was “an appalling waste of a unique opportunity” because there was no attempt to find out the physical and mental impact on the crew.

He said: “Why not get value for money by testing everything - men as well as weapons? They did it in the USA. The answer given by the Prime Minister in 1983 was that ‘no-one was exposed to any significant health hazard’. But without testing, how is it possible to be sure?”


The papers also show senior officers deciding to sail Diana with vents open “so that we could find out precisely what contamination was drawn in, but we could not tell how serious a problem this might produce”.

After the blasts, which took place on the Monte Bello islands off the north west coast of Australia, “the levels of loose contamination were well above the health tolerance throughout both the machinery spaces in use”. They add: “There might be some danger from the ingested hazard at some later stage.”

Fallout was subsequently found in the ship’s vents, on boots, ladders, and decks. The papers also report that a meter used to detect radiation on servicemen “appears much too insensitive”, and could detect contamination only if it was several hundred times worse than the limit set for crew.


Shocking new documents have been unearthed
Shocking new documents have been unearthed(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)

After the blasts, one report states: “The principal conclusions are… that the resulting contamination is mainly loose, that it is easily transferred to the lungs and stomach and must therefore be considered a hazard even though the external dose rate is very low. No test equipment is in service, and little doctrine exists on this hazard.”

Archie, of Warrington, was just 18 and on National Service when he served as a stoker on Diana. Afterwards he went to work on the railways, and had five children. His eldest daughter was unable to have more than one child, his wife suffered a miscarriage, and aged just 65 Archie had 18 inches of bowel removed after contracting cancer.


Archie said: “Even the officers on board did not know much more than us. We all went cheerfully into this travesty, and afterwards the captain told us we were used as guinea pigs. The fallout was toxic and deadly.”

Daily Mirror Icon
Nuclear bomb tests

The Ministry of Defence says it is still “considering” the findings of the latest study. Last month, the PM pledged to deliver test veterans “the recognition they deserve”.

Article continues below

A MoD spokesman said: “We are grateful to all service personnel who participated in the British nuclear testing programme. The protection, health and welfare of those involved was a vital consideration, as documented by the detailed safety measures and radiobiological monitoring that took place during the operations.”

READ MORE: Veterans' fury as Mirror reveals truth about committee which denied them a medalREAD MORE: Veterans of UK's nuclear experiments suffer double normal rate of psychological stress
Follow Daily Mirror:



The VeteransMinistry of DefenceDaily MirrorNuclear weaponsNuclear test veterans
reach logo

At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the "Do Not Sell or Share my Data" button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.