Servicemen in British N-tests 'not endangered'

Servicemen ordered to walk and crawl through a nuclear test site shortly after British authorities set off an atomic bomb were not endangering their health, a top radiation scientist said in New Zealand today.

The New Zealand government has called for reports on whether the health of seven New Zealand officers involved could have been damaged by their participation in bomb tests at Maralinga, southern Australia, in 1956 and 1957.

Australian and British servicemen also were involved in the tests, which came to light last week in Australian Government papers dug out of Canberra’s national archive.

National Radiation Laboratory director Andrew McEwan said fears that the New Zealanders were exposed to damaging radiation were groundless.

McEwan said the danger of radiation to the men who were near ground zero the points directly above or below where a nuclear bomb is detonated depended on the time they were in the area.

‘‘It’s a time-and-exposure type of exercise. If they stayed there for days they would get a significant dose ... if they rushed through they wouldn’t necessarily get an enormous dose,’’ he said

‘‘I’d be surprised if any of the men involved had anything wrong with them, as a direct results of the tests ... the radiation doses they received wouldn’t have any connection with subsequent health effects.’’

New Zealand Defence Minister Mark Burton has asked whether the men took part in the protective clothing experiments as guinea pigs, or whether they had given their informed consent.

Several of them walked through the fallout zone after atomic bomb blasts, to within about 800 yards of ground zero for short periods.

They were five miles away when a 20-kiloton device was exploded from a tower, and 1.8 miles away when they observed the second test, a two-kiloton device exploded at ground level.

McEwan’s comments confirmed those of one of the men, retired Brigadier John Burns, 84.

Burns said he had suffered no ill-effects from the trials, which included walking and crawling through the fallout dust and having it billow over them from moving vehicles.

McEwan said radiation exposure risks from atomic blasts at such distances would be negligible.

‘‘Standing at that distance there’d be a zero dose of radiation; (the men) wouldn’t even need protective clothing,’’ he told National Radio.

Burton said military records had revealed low levels of radiation exposure were recorded from the protective clothing tests in which the men had taken part.

‘‘A key outstanding question is the nature of specific activities after the explosions involving the use of protective clothing, and the degree of informed consent,’’ he said.