Military personnel exposed to excessive radiation, document shows

Australian and New Zealand atomic military personnel involved in nuclear tests 45 years ago received excessive doses of radiation, according to a government report released today from official archives.

The report, released by the National Archives of Australia, shows that more than one-third of 76 personnel involved in nuclear tests in 1956 received a radiation dose greater than the maximum ‘‘permissible exposure’’ in a week.

It mentions that some of the personnel were earlier exposed to radiation ‘‘during clothing trials’’.

That comment backs work by British researcher Sue Rabbitt Roff, who said she had uncovered documents that proved servicemen were deliberately exposed to radiation in nuclear tests in the 1950s.

One document says 24 men had been chosen for the trials from an ‘‘indoctrinee force’’ of more than 250 British, Australian and New Zealand officers and civilians.

The men walked, crawled and were driven through a fallout zone for three days after an atomic explosion, testing out three types of protective clothing.

‘‘The object was to discover what types of clothing would give the best protection against radioactive contamination in conditions of warfare,’’ the document said.

The government archives document released today is dated October 12, 1956, and is on an Australian Military Forces Central Command letterhead. It refers to the Buffalo Trials - a series of four atmospheric nuclear tests.

The named personnel 70 Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen and one civilian, plus five New Zealand officers were all listed as exposed to radiation on September 28 or 29.

Twelve British atomic bombs were detonated on Australian territory - three on the Monte Bello islands off Western Australia, and nine at Maralinga, South Australia - between October 1952 and 1957.

British and Australian governments have resisted pressure from veterans of the tests to accept that they suffered from radiation exposure and deserve compensation.