Atomic Thunder

by Elizabeth Tynan

Buffalo 2 (Marcoo): 4 October 1956

  Buffalo 3 (Kite): 11 October 1956

  Buffalo 4 (Breakaway): 22 October 1956

  Operation Antler

  Maralinga, South Australia

  Antler 1 (Tadje): 14 September 1957

  Antler 2 (Biak): 25 September 1957

  Antler 3 (Taranaki): 9 October 1957

  MINOR TRIALS

  Kittens

  Emu Field and Maralinga, South Australia

  Emu Field: September–October 1953

  Maralinga (Naya): May–June 1955

  (Naya): March 1956

  (Naya): March–July 1957

  (Naya): March–July 1959

  (Naya): May 1961

  Tims

  Maralinga, South Australia

  (Naya): July 1955

  (Kuli/Naya): March–July 1957

  (Kuli): September–November 1957

  (Kuli): April–June 1958

  (Kuli): September–November 1958

  (Kuli): May–November 1959

  (Kuli): April–October 1960

  (Kuli/Naya): August 1961

  (Kuli): March–April 1963

  Rats

  Maralinga, South Australia

  (Naya): April–June 1958

  (Naya): September–November 1958

  (Dobo): March–July 1959

  (Naya/Dobo): September 1960

  Vixen A

  Maralinga (Wewak), South Australia

  June–August 1959

  May–August 1960

  March–April 1961

  Vixen B

  Maralinga (Taranaki), South Australia

  September–October 1960

  April–May 1961

  March–April 1963

  Glossary

  Alpha particles Positively charged particles containing two protons and two neutrons that are emitted by certain radioisotopes, particularly those with a high atomic number.

  Alpha radiation Radiation caused by alpha particles. Alpha radiation has very little penetrating power but may present a serious hazard if alpha particles are inhaled or ingested.

  Atom The smallest particle of an element that retains the characteristics of that element. It is made up of a nucleus and a cloud of surrounding electrons.

  Atomic number The number and position of an element in the Periodic Table, equating to the number of protons in the nucleus.

  Becquerel The international standard unit of radioactivity, defined as one radioactive disintegration per second.

  Beta radiation Radiation caused by beta particles. Some radioactive elements emit from the nucleus charged particles of low mass called beta particles, which are identical to electrons. Beta radiation has medium penetrating power, between that of alpha and gamma radiation, and may be stopped by light metal such as aluminium.

  Deterministic effect The dose-dependent radioactive effect on a biological entity such as a human body. One kind of deterministic effect is radiation sickness, an often-fatal effect of exposure to a large dose of radioactivity.

  D-notice A secret government request to senior media representatives not to publish certain specified details about defence- or security-related activities. The D-notice system was adopted in Australia in 1952. D-notices were decided by the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Committee administered by the Department of Defence and made up of senior government and media representatives.

  Dose The amount of energy delivered to a mass of material by ionising radiation passing through it.

  Dose equivalent Different kinds of radiation, such as gamma or alpha, have different biological effects. For example, for the same absorbed dose, alpha radiation will produce more effects than gamma radiation. The dose equivalent is measured in sieverts.

  Dosimeter A device, instrument or system used to measure or evaluate a dose of radiation. Two types of personal dosimeters were used at Maralinga by personnel entering radiation areas during the tests: quartz fibre electrometers and film badges.

  Fallout The descent to the earth’s surface of particles contaminated with radioactivity, following the dispersion of radioactive material into the atmosphere by nuclear explosion. The term is applied both to the process and, in a collective sense, to the particulate matter.

  Feather beds Large metal frameworks used to hold the simulated warheads before detonation in the Vixen B safety trials held at the Taranaki firing pads at Maralinga.

  Film badge A plastic holder containing a piece of film similar to a dental x-ray film and worn by personnel at a nuclear test. Radiation exposes the film. After a nuclear test, the film is developed, and the degree of darkening apparent is a measure of the radiation dose received. The film holder usually contains metal filters to enable discrimination between different types of radiation.

  Fission The process in which the nucleus of a heavy element such as uranium or plutonium splits into two nuclei of lighter elements, accompanied by the release of substantial amounts of energy.

  Forward area The restricted zone within which the major bomb trials and minor radiological experiments took place at the British nuclear tests sites.

  Fusion The process in which the nuclei of light elements such as hydrogen (particulalry its isotopes deuterium or tritium) combine to form the nucleus of a heavier element, accompanied by the release of substantial amounts of energy.

  Gamma radiation Penetrating electromagnetic radiation emitted from the nucleus of radioactive elements. This form of radiation is most readily measured by monitoring equipment such as film badges and dosimeters.

  Half-life The time in which the activity of a radioactive species will decline to half its initial value by radioactive decay. For example, plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24 400 years, so it takes 24 400 years for half of its radioactivity to decay, then another 24 400 years for half of the remaining radiation to decay, and so on. The half-life of a radioactive species is a characteristic property of that species.

  Health physics The science of human health and radiation exposure – a branch of medical science devoted to radiation safety.

  Ionising radiation Radiation that integrates with matter to add electrons to or remove electrons from the atoms of the material absorbing it, producing electrically charged (positive or negative) atoms called ions.

  Isotopes Forms of the same element whose nuclei contain different numbers of neutrons and therefore have different mass numbers. Isotopes of an element have nearly identical chemical properties but differ in their nuclear properties. For instance, some isotopes of an element may be radioactive, and others not.

  Major trials Atomic tests conducted at Monte Bello Islands, Emu Field and Maralinga in Australia that involved detonating a complete atomic bomb, resulting in a mushroom cloud.

  Minor trials Hundreds of tests conducted at Emu Field and Maralinga in Australia that involved examining how radioactive materials and atomic weaponry would behave under various conditions such as fire or conventional explosion.

  Neutron A nuclear particle with no electric charge (neutral) and a mass approximately equal to or slightly greater than that of a proton. Neutrons are present in all atoms except those of the lightest isotope of hydrogen.

  Nuclides Species of atoms having a specified number of protons and neutrons in their nuclei. Radionuclides are the radioactive forms of nuclides. They are often expressed as, for example, 239Pu, which shows in numerical form the number of neutrons combined with the number of protons (in this case 145 neutrons and 94 protons) and hence the form of isotope.

  Operation Brumby A clean-up operation, more extensive than Operation Hercules, mounted by the AWRE at the Maralinga test range between April and July of 1967. Operation Brumby was considered by the AWRE to be the final clean-up before departing the atomic weapons test site permanently.

  Operation Hercules A clean-up operation mounted by the AWRE at the Maralinga test range between August and November 1964. This clean-up was intended as a temporary measure to allow a reduction in range staff to a care and maintenance level while
long-term decisions were made about its future use.

  Operation RADSUR A RADiological SURvey of both the Maralinga and the Emu Field atomic test sites carried out by the AWRE in October and November 1966. RADSUR was used as the basis for Operation Brumby.

  Plumes Clouds of radioactive material from an explosion, as well as the visible fallout after the radioactive material is carried back to the ground. The scientists on the 1984 field trip to Maralinga could detect plumes in the form of elongated hand-shapes on the ground from each detonation of the Vixen B experiments in the 1960s, because the plutonium carried back down still sat close to the surface.

  Plutonium (Pu) A dense, silvery radioactive element that does not occur naturally but is made in a reactor by irradiating uranium with neutrons. It was first produced in 1940. Plutonium has 13 known isotopes, of which plutonium-239 has the longest half-life (24 400 years). A fissile material, plutonium-239 can be used as the core of a nuclear weapon.

  Quartz fibre electrometer Dosimeters worn in the pocket like pens and read by looking through a lens to observe the position of a quartz fibre against a scale.

  Radioactivity The property of certain radionuclides of spontaneously emitting particles and/or x-ray or gamma ray radiation, or of undergoing spontaneous fission. The rate of decay is specific to a given species of radionuclide and cannot be changed by known physical or chemical processes.

  Radionuclides Radioactive nuclides.

  Sievert The unit of biological absorption of ionising radiation, expressed as dose equivalent. A millisievert is one one-thousandth of a sievert. At the time of the British nuclear tests in Australia the standard measurement of dose equivalence was the rem.

  Stochastic effects Medical conditions associated with ionising radiation, such as cancer or hereditary illness, induced at random but with no threshold radiation dose, for which probability (but not severity) increases with increasing doses of radiation. These effects may show up many years after exposure. Because stochastic effects can occur in individuals who have not been exposed to radiation above background levels, it is impossible to determine for certain whether an occurrence of cancer or genetic damage was due to a specific exposure.

  Thermonuclear weapon A nuclear device that relies on raising the temperature of a mixture of deuterium and tritium nuclei to above 10 million degrees Celsius, at which point nuclear fusion reactions occur. This type of weapon is also known as a hydrogen bomb.

  Warhead The explosive head of a bomb.

  Yield The amount of energy generated by a nuclear explosion, usually expressed in kilotonnes (for fission devices) or megatonnes (for fusion devices). A kilotonne is equivalent to 1000 tonnes of TNT, and a megatonne is equivalent to 1 million tonnes of TNT.

  References

  PROLOGUE

  Arnold, Lorna & Smith, Mark, Britain, Australia and the Bomb: The Nuclear Tests and Their Aftermath, 2nd edn, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2006.

  Beale, Howard, Minister for Supply, ‘Atomic Tests in Australia’, top-secret Cabinet briefing document, submission no. 73, Canberra, 11 August 1954, Malone files.

  Curr, EM, ‘Port Essington’, in Australian Race: Its Origin, Languages, Customs, Place of Landing in Australia, and the Routes by Which It Spread Itself over That Continent, John Ferres, Government Printer, 1887.

  Macintyre, Stuart, A Concise History of Australia, 2nd edn, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, 2004.

  Maloney, Sean M, Learning to Love the Bomb: Canada’s Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War, Potomac Books, 2007.

  Milliken, Robert, No Conceivable Injury, Penguin, Ringwood, 1986.

  ‘Nuclear colonialism’, Healing Ourselves and Mother Earth, . Accessed 23 August 2014.

  Research and Development Branch, Department of Supply, minutes of meeting, Swanston Street, Melbourne, 25 November 1953, National Archives of Australia (NAA): A6456, R145/011.

  Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia, Conclusions and Recommendations (JR McClelland, J Fitch, WJA Jones), AGPS, Canberra, 1985.

  Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia, Report (JR McClelland, President), 2 vols, AGPS, Canberra, 1985.

  1 MARALINGA BURIED, UNCOVERED

  Anderson, Ian, ‘Britain’s dirty deeds at Maralinga’, New Scientist, 12 June 1993, pp. 12–13.

  Arnold, Lorna & Smith, Mark, Britain, Australia and the Bomb: The Nuclear Tests and Their Aftermath, 2nd edn, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2006.

  Australia, Senate, Debates, questions without notice (to Peter Walsh from Senator Graham Maguire), plutonium residues, Maralinga, 31 May 1984, p. 2227.

  Beadell, Len, Blast the Bush, Rigby Limited, Adelaide, 1967.

  Bernstein, Jeremy, Plutonium: A History of the World’s Most Dangerous Element, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2001.

  Blakeway, Denys & Lloyd-Roberts, Sue, Fields of Thunder: Testing Britain’s Bomb, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1985.

  Brown, Paul, ‘British nuclear testing in Australia: performing the Maralinga experiment through verbatim theatre’, Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. 139, 2006.

  Burns, Peter & Williams, Geoff, tape recording of interview with Ian Anderson, 1993 (exact date unknown), Anderson files.

  Burns, Peter & Williams, Geoff, interview with author, ARPANSA, Melbourne, 15 April 2004.

  Cawte, Alice, Atomic Australia 1944–1990, UNSW Press, Kensington, 1992.

  Connor, Steve, ‘WA atom blast was far bigger, UK says’, Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), 26 May 1984, p. 3.

  Department of Education, Science and Training, ‘Rehabilitation of Former Nuclear Tests Sites at Emu and Maralinga (Australia) 2003’ (MARTAC Report), Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2002.

  Lokan, KH, Head of ARL, evidence to Joint Committee on Public Works, 23 February 1995, in minutes of evidence relating to Maralinga Rehabilitation Project, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1995.

  MARTAC Report, see Department of Education, Science and Training.

  Moroney, John, annotated draft of Ian Anderson’s New Scientist story, unpublished, 2 June 1993, Anderson files.

  Ophel, TR, ‘Sir Ernest William Titterton’, Obituary, ANU Reporter, 23 February 1990, p. 4.

  Pearce, Noah, ‘Final Report on Residual Radioactive Contamination of the Maralinga Range and the Emu Site’, AWRE report no. 01–16/68 (Pearce Report), UK Atomic Energy Authority, January 1968. Edited version released by Australian Department of National Development, May 1979. Full version tabled by Australian Senate, May 1984.

  Pearce Report, see Pearce, Noah.

  Resture, Jane, ‘Return to Maralinga’, Jane Resture’s Oceania Page, 2012, . Accessed 23 August 2014.

  Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia, Conclusions and Recommendations (JR McClelland, J Fitch, WJA Jones), AGPS, Canberra, 1985.

  Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia, Report (JR McClelland, President), 2 vols, AGPS, Canberra, 1985.

  Stanton, John, ‘Plutonium dumps a risk “for thousands of years”’, The Australian, 25 May 1984, p. 2.

  Toohey, Brian, ‘Killen warns on plutonium pile’, Australian Financial Review, 5 October 1978.

  Toohey, Brian, ‘Plutonium on the wind: the terrible legacy of Maralinga’, National Times, 4–10 May 1984, pp. 3–5.

  United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, ‘Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: text of the treaty’, . Accessed 28 February 2016.

  Walsh, Peter, statement, Senate, 4 May 1984, reproduced in Australian Foreign Affairs Record, vol. 55, no. 5, May 1984, p. 486.

  Walsh, Peter, media release, 15 May 1984, reproduced in Australian Foreign Affairs Record, vol. 55, no. 5, May 1984, p. 547.

  Walsh, Peter, statement, Senate, 7 June 1984, reproduced in Australian Foreign Affairs Record, vol. 55, no. 6, June 1984, p. 636.

  Walsh, Peter, letter to Ho
ward Conkey, Canberra Times, 28 June 1984.

  Walsh, Peter, Confessions of a Failed Finance Minister, Random House Australia, Milsons Point, 1995.

  Wick, OJ, Plutonium Handbook: A Guide to the Technology, American Nuclear Society, Grange Park, 1980.

  2 BRITAIN’S STEALTHY MARCH TOWARDS THE BOMB

  ‘Alan Nunn May, 91, pioneer in atomic spying for Soviets’, New York Times, 25 January 2003.

  Allen, Christian, ‘Atom spy Klaus Fuchs jailed’, History Today, LookSmart, 2000, . Accessed 19 November 2015.

  Aylen, Jonathan, ‘First waltz: development and deployment of Blue Danube, Britain’s post-war atomic bomb’, International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology, vol. 85, no. 1, January 2015, pp. 31–59.

  Cathcart, Brian, ‘Obituary: Theodore Hall’, Independent, 12 November 1999, . Accessed 9 December 2010.

  Fitzgerald, EM, ‘Allison, Attlee and the bomb: views on the 1947 British decision to build an atom bomb’, RUSI Journal, vol. 122, issue 1, 1977.

  Foulkes, JN & Thompson, DS, ‘A Biological Survey of the Maralinga Tjuratja Lands, South Australia, 2001–2007’, Science Resource Centre, Information, Science and Technology Directorate, Department for Environment and Heritage, South Australia, December 2008.

  Goodman, Michael S, ‘The grandfather of the hydrogen bomb? Anglo-American intelligence and Klaus Fuchs’, Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, vol. 34, no. 1, 2003, pp. 1–22.

  Gowing, Margaret, Britain and Atomic Energy 1939–1945, Macmillan, London, 1964.

  Gowing, Margaret, ‘The men’, in Margaret Gowing with Lorna Arnold, Independence and Deterrence: Britain and Atomic Energy, 1945–1952, Palgrave Macmillan, 1974, Chapter 13.

  Gowing, Margaret, ‘James Chadwick and the atomic bomb’, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, vol. 47, no. 1, January 1993.

  Grabosky, PN, ‘A toxic legacy: British nuclear weapons tests’, in Wayward Governance: Illegality and Its Control in the Public Sector, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, 1989, Chapter 16.