Nuclear test campaigner demands access to medical files

A campaigner from Devon is suing the government over missing medical records belonging to veterans exposed to radiation more than 70 years ago.

Susan Musselwhite's father, Derek, was one of 22,000 servicemen who took part in nuclear tests in the 1950 and 1960s.

Ms Musselwhite said access to missing medical files would help veterans and descendants who said their health had suffered as a result of the trials.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said no information was withheld from veterans.

Ms Musselwhite, 44, from Paignton, is part of a group of former military personnel and their families who have sent a letter before action on the MoD, formally warning of a potential court claim, and handed a petition into Downing Street in March 2024.

Ms Musselwhite said: "What these men witnessed you only see in movies. But they witnessed it, they lived it; they know the deadliest weapon ever created."

The group is calling for the government to create a special tribunal to oversee compensation.

Personnel from all three armed forces took part in Cold War nuclear weapons trials between 1952 and 1967 in Australia and the South Pacific.

Susan Musselwhite said the government "sent their men as cannon fodder and those men deserve to be recognised for what they did", including her Royal Navy diver father.

Like many of the veterans' children and grandchildren, Ms Musselwhite said she was struggling with serious health issues.

Campaigners say they are currently unable to access their records or parts are missing or incomplete because the samples have been reclassified as "scientific data" and placed at the MoD's Atomic Weapons Establishment research facility.

MoD sources previously told the BBC that archives at the facility have been searched and do not contain the medical records in question.

Ms Musselwhite said missing medical records of blood and urine tests taken by the military during the trials could provide vital information.

She said: "We're unable to live a proper life because we haven't got the answers."

In a statement, the government said: "We are grateful to all service personnel who participated in the British nuclear testing programme, which is why we have formally recognised them with an official medal.

"Veterans are able to access their individual military records on request taken either before, during or after participation in the UK nuclear weapon tests which are held in the government's archives."

The MoD also said that it commissioned four studies into levels of mortality and cancer among nuclear test participants.

The latest, published in 2022, concluded that overall levels in nuclear test veterans had continued to be similar to those in a matched armed services control group, and lower than in the general population.

The MoD also said there was currently no evidence that children of nuclear test veterans had an increased number of genetic mutations or health conditions.

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