More veterans are to receive nuclear test medals after successful campaign

Hundreds more nuclear test veterans are to receive medals honouring their service after an extended campaign by Labrats International, the organisation which represents those affected by nuclear tests.

On 3 October 1952, the UK became the world's third nuclear power, after extensive trials culminating in Operation Hurricane – the successful detonation of a plutonium bomb off the coast of Australia. 

Many more tests would be carried out in the decades to come.

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The bomb used in Operation Grapple Y in 1958, for example, was more than 100 times more powerful than the explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Between 1952 and 1967, 22,000 people were involved, putting them at risk of exposure to varying levels of radiation.

After years of lobbying for recognition, in 2022, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that thousands of nuclear test veterans would receive a newly designed medal honouring their service.

Now, the Government has announced that hundreds more veterans will be eligible, opening the medals up to include veterans who supported the United States' atmospheric nuclear test programme. 

Originally, only those participating in the UK test programme qualified. Hundreds of personnel from the Royal Air Force and Royal Fleet Auxiliary tracked and photographed French and Chinese explosions in the Pacific as part of these tests.

Minister for Veterans and People Al Carns awarded the first medal under the new criteria to Squadron Leader Peters at the veteran's home in Lakenheath, Suffolk. 

Sqn Ldr Peters took part in American tests in 1954, along with his RAF comrades, flying high-altitude air sampling missions in his Canberra aircraft to gather vital information. 

The minister said: "The work that the nuclear test veterans did in taking part in the UK's nuclear tests laid the foundation for the decades of security and safety that our society benefits from even today.

"The expanded criteria will now also include those who worked with our closest ally, the US, during those years of development and discovery."

The Government is encouraging any veterans involved in the tests, including civilian staff or their descendants, to apply for their medal.

A total of almost 5,000 have been awarded so far.