British Nuclear Weapons Testing

In the 1950s and 1960s, approximately 21,000 members of the British Armed Services participated in the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, at various locations in Australia and the Pacific Ocean. There were also minor trials, which involved testing the performance of components and the safety of nuclear devices.

The Australian Tests

The UK detonated 12 atomic devices of varying size (yield, given in equivalent kilotons of TNT) in the Montebello Islands, Emu Field and Maralinga (Table 1).

Table 1. UK Atmospheric Nuclear Tests in Australia.

The UK performed approximately 600 minor trials as part of five military operations (Table 2). These trials did not involve atmospheric nuclear tests, however, some radioactive material was dispersed into the environment.

Table 2. UK Minor Trials in Australia.

The Pacific Tests

The UK conducted the series of Grapple atmospheric nuclear tests in the vicinity of Malden Island and Christmas Island (modern day Kiritimati) which are part of the Line Islands in the South Pacific (Table 3).

Table 3. UK Atmospheric Nuclear Tests in the Pacific

Operation Dominic

In 1962, the USA conducted a series of atmospheric nuclear tests near Christmas Island, Johnstone Island and at other locations in the Pacific, codenamed Operation Dominic. Approximately, 300 members of the UK Armed Services supported the tests near Christmas Island, which were codenamed, Operation Brigadoon by the UK Government (Table 4).

Table 4. Operation Dominic Tests near Christmas Island

There were an additional seven nuclear tests in Operation Dominic that did not involve UK personnel: Frigate Bird, Swordfish, Androscoggin, Bumping, Chama, Calamity and Housatonic.