Students are helping to uncover vital new evidence in relation to a long-running fight for justice for British veterans present during nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific during the 1950s.
Volunteer students from History, Law and Politics have been given a rare opportunity to work directly with previously top-secret government files, alongside investigative journalist Susie Boniface. These files – many hidden for decades – contain key scientific and medical evidence relating to radiation exposure during nuclear weapons trials.
The work of students has contributed to major findings reported in the Sunday Mirror, revealing previously undisclosed evidence of radioactive contamination affecting troops and inhabited areas, including fish, rainwater and the wider environment on Kiritimati (Christmas Island).
Crucially, the evidence indicates that radiation levels were significantly higher than those presented in legal proceedings involving veterans – raising serious concerns that previous court decisions, including a landmark 2016 case, were based on incomplete or misleading information and may therefore be unsafe.
The project is led by Dr Jonathan Hogg and the Centre for People’s Justice, in collaboration with LABRATS, which represents the nuclear test veteran and descendant community.
Commenting on the significance of our students’ work, Susie Boniface said: “Three years ago I was shown the first evidence of blood testing on troops at our nuclear weapons trials. I traced them to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), and a database codenamed Merlin. Parliamentary pressure forced ministers to release 150 files, and now 28,000 files are being released in stages.
“It is these files which students are combing through today. Their work has been vital in identifying supporting information and confirming that evidence of contamination was withheld from publication when it should have been made public.
“This project is not just rewriting a false and unjust historical record – it is helping to build a pathway to justice. Having students involved in analysing this material has been extraordinary.”
Volunteer History student Alice Shadbolt said: “It’s an incredibly rare opportunity to work directly with this kind of evidence—documents that were once secret and are now central to questions of justice. Seeing firsthand how this material could change outcomes for veterans and their families has been both eye-opening and deeply meaningful.”
The students will continue working through the remaining files, with further discoveries expected as the archive is explored in more depth.
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