When the US deployed nuclear missiles in England during the cold war, it did so despite safety warnings from UK government scientists, New Scientist has learned.
Between 1983 and 1991, the US stationed 96 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles at Greenham Common in Berkshire, prompting the most prolonged and iconic of the UK鈥檚 protests against nuclear weapons.
Now, previously top secret reports released to New Scientist by the UK鈥檚 Ministry of Defence (MoD) under freedom of information legislation show that the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston had estimated that 10 million people, including the population of London, could have been exposed to an 鈥渋nhalation hazard鈥 from plutonium if warheads exploded or caught fire.
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It was 鈥渃redible鈥 for one warhead to detonate by accident and engulf another seven in a fire, one report said. In another report dated 11 February 1980, scientists worked out the 鈥減lutonium dispersion hazard鈥 from a cruise missile fire. Of the 11 bases in England being considered for the missiles, Greenham Common posed the highest risks, the report said. It was 鈥渢he worst site which has been examined鈥 because it was the closest to large centres of population which could be exposed to radiation in the event of an accident.
The report said a fire in one storage cell, fed from fuel from the missiles, could result in the plutonium from eight warheads being blown across a large swathe of southern England. Still, the risk was considered 鈥渁cceptable鈥.
That assessment was revised a few months later because new information from the US showed that warheads could indeed explode by accident. A second report was produced on 2 December 1980, after the US decided to station cruise missiles at Greenham Common and Molesworth in Cambridgeshire. The report said: 鈥淚f one warhead were to detonate it is possible that the other seven warheads in the storage cell could be engulfed in the fire which is virtually certain to ensue from the rupture of the missiles鈥 fuel tanks.鈥 The risk was deemed to be 鈥渟till acceptable鈥.
The MoD鈥檚 response is that it 鈥渄oes not confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons at any particular place at any particular time鈥. It added, 鈥淭here has never been an accident involving nuclear weapons in the UK that has put the public at risk. The MoD maintains the highest standards of safety and security during the storage or transport of nuclear weapons.鈥
The Aldermaston reports will feature in a BBC Radio 4 documentary to be broadcast at 8 pm on Monday 16 July.
