Cold War exhibition seeks to conceal dark history of UK nuclear testing

A New Exhibitions Recently, the National Archives of the United Kingdom opened an exhibition about the Cold War in Kew, southwest London. Protect and Survive: Uncovering Britain’s Cold War seeks to tell the story of how nuclear tensions affected Britain, from spy paranoia to civil defense posters to communications at the heart of government. As is typical of any exhibition covering such a wide range of history, curatorial choices must be made. As the institution’s chief records specialist explain:

We thought that half of the exhibition should be devoted to government bunkers and the other half should reflect the impact of the Cold War on families, with a particular emphasis on how much the Cold War influenced popular culture—whether it was pop music, literature, movies, games or toys.

One consequence of this approach is that a vitally important aspect of Britain’s Cold War was almost completely erased from the story. There is almost nothing in the exhibition about the 45 atomic bombs and nuclear weapons that went off. implement The United Kingdom conducted similar tests: 12 in Australia between 1952 and 1957, nine in the Central Pacific between 1957 and 1958, and the United States conducted another 24 tests in the Nevada desert until 1991. The health effects of these tests on the local population and the approximately 22,000 British troops who were sent to observe are still being studied.

The Cold War exhibit includes three photographs showing 1952 Explosion Located near the Montebello Islands, northwest of Australia. There is also a photo of a hydrogen bomb that exploded near Christmas Island in May 1957, the first in a series in the central Pacific. Convincing the United States Resume nuclear cooperation with the UK. That’s it. Worse, the exhibition includes a map of the global impact of the nuclear age, with Australian test sites obscured by text – especially Maralingaan important Aboriginal settlement, was the site of seven explosions.

Documents under review

I understand that the decision on the exhibition content was finalised at the end of last year. Interestingly, this was around the same time that the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (the public body ultimately responsible for the UK’s nuclear heritage) was established. Withdrawal Record Documents released by the National Archives relating to nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s were declassified decades ago pending a “security review” by the U.S. government. Ministry of National Defense and Atomic Weapons Research Institute. Experts in the field Long-term complaints Many documents about the UK testing remain classified, which makes the withdrawal of the declassified documents all the more troubling.

The National Archives advises anyone who wants access to the reclassified documents to make a request through a Freedom of Information application. However, Elizabeth Tynan, author of Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga Story and winner of the 2017 Australian Prime Minister’s History Prize, told me the agency informed her in March that its review of the records was not yet complete and that it was “not clear” how long it would take. The response continued:

However, we hope that many records will eventually be restored to public access, and we will notify you as soon as we have any information. Please again accept our apologies for the continued delay.

Confidentiality Agreement explain The review will only be intended to “ensure that the records are appropriate to remain in the public domain” and that “it is expected that public access to the vast majority of the documents will be restored.” according to It has been suggested that the NDA may be moving some of its records to the north of Scotland.

commemorate

The omission from London’s Cold War exhibition is a reminder of the low profile Britain has taken of its weapons testing history. This story needs to be told not only in this exhibition, but also in a permanent public space. Yet no museum dedicated to Britain’s wars is willing to dedicate a gallery to it – not even to the records and memorabilia of all those who served in the military. Send to Observation Test. A few years ago, as I was walking through the hallways of a large institution, I was quietly told not to provide them with my own records because “they’ll end up in the trash.”

My experience working in this field has taught me that successive governments seem to want the story of British nuclear testing to die a natural death. But at least the National Archives has the job of preserving the record and ensuring it is never forgotten.