Nuclear test veterans: Parts of MOD and government lawyers were aware of radiation report
A defence minister has told Parliament that parts of the Ministry of Defence and government lawyers were aware of a report in 2014 revealing radiation was present across inhabited areas of Christmas Island, where personnel witnessed nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s.
The report by the Atomic Weapons Establishment in 2014, which was not disclosed until last month, showed elevated radiation levels in the environment and contamination in the food and potentially the water servicemen were eating and drinking.
"Initial investigations show that parts of the Ministry of Defence were made aware of the report in 2014, as were government legal representatives," the Veterans and People Minister Louise Sandher-Jones said.
"It's not yet established if ministers were made aware at the time.
"These are incredibly important questions, and they must be answered."
Labour MP Rebecca Long Bailey, who organised the debate in the House of Commons, said: "The authors of the 2014 report are unequivocal: the earlier reports from 1990 and 1993 – the very documents relied on in court cases and for pension claims – were incomplete and inaccurate.
"Yet they were used as the very foundation for denying these men and their families justice. This is not just a technical discrepancy or a minor administrative oversight; at best, it is a systemic failure, but at worst, it is a cover-up."
Ms Long Bailey, the Salford MP, went on to say: "It was not just in isolated, uninhabited zones and not just in trace amounts, but in the sea, the fish, the lagoons, near water sources and, crucially, in the main camp where British personnel lived and worked.
"It shows elevated radiation levels in fish of up to seven times the background levels by some measures.
"It shows contamination in the very food that servicemen were eating regularly. It shows that drinking water sources were potentially exposed. It shows that monitoring systems were incomplete, inconsistent and, in some cases, entirely absent.
"Most damning of all, it shows that many of those living and working in these areas were not even issued with film badges to measure their exposure."
As she began to give the Government's response, Mrs Sandher-Jones began to cry and was visibly upset as she said: "I would just like to say very firmly on the record how deeply I feel about this issue and how committed I am to the nuclear test veterans and their fight for transparency.
"They've had a very long fight, and I really recognise how difficult [it] has been for them, and I want them to understand that I am committed to them."
MPs are now calling for an independent public inquiry, for all relevant documents to be de-classified, a review of legal cases and pension decisions and compensation for veterans and their families.
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