United Kingdom and weapons of mass destruction
Encyclopedia
The United Kingdom
possesses, or has possessed, a variety of weapons of mass destruction
, including nuclear
, biological, and chemical weapons. The United Kingdom is one of the five official nuclear weapon states under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
and has an independent nuclear deterrent. The UK has been estimated to have a stockpile of approximately 160 active nuclear warheads and 225 nuclear warheads in total. The United Kingdom renounced the use of chemical and biological weapons in 1956 and subsequently destroyed its general stocks.
The United Kingdom has four Vanguard class
submarines armed with nuclear-tipped Trident missile
s. The principle of operation is based on maintaining deterrent effect by always having at least one submarine at sea, and was designed during the Cold War
period. One submarine is normally undergoing maintenance and the remaining two are in port or on training exercises.
Each submarine carries up to sixteen Trident II D-5 missiles, which can each carry up to twelve warheads, for a maximum of 192 warheads per sub. However, the British government announced in 1998 that each submarine would carry only 48 warheads (halving the limit specified by the previous government), which is an average of three per missile. However one or two missiles per submarine are probably armed with fewer warheads for "sub-strategic" use causing others to be armed with more.
The British-designed warheads are thought to be selectable between 0.3 kilotons, 5-10 kt and 100 kt; the yields obtained using either the unboosted primary, the boosted primary, or the entire "physics package". The United Kingdom has purchased the rights to 58 missiles under the Polaris Sales Agreement
(modified for Trident) from the United States Navy
's "pool". These missiles are fitted with United Kingdom-built warheads and are exchanged when requiring maintenance. Under the agreement the United States was given certain assurances by the UK regarding the use of the missiles, however the United States does not have any veto on the use of British nuclear weapons.
The United Kingdom is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" (NWS) under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
, which the UK ratified in 1968.
The UK permits the U.S. to deploy nuclear weapons from its territory, the first having arrived in 1954. During the 1980s nuclear armed USAF Ground Launched Cruise Missile
s were deployed at RAF Greenham Common
and RAF Molesworth
. As of 2005 it is believed that about 110 tactical B61 nuclear bomb
s are stored at RAF Lakenheath
for deployment by USAF F-15E aircraft.
In March 2007, the UK Parliament voted to renew the country's Trident nuclear submarine system
at a cost of £20bn. In July 2008, The Guardian
claimed that the decision had already been made to replace and upgrade Britain's nuclear warhead stockpile at a cost of £3bn, extending the life of the warheads until 2055.
which outlawed the use of poison gas shells, but omitted deployment from cylinders probably because it had not been considered.
However, during the First World War
, in retaliation to the use of chlorine
by Germany
against British troops from April 1915 onwards, British forces deployed chlorine themselves for the first time during the Battle of Loos
on 25 September 1915. By the end of the war, poison gas use had become widespread on both sides and by 1918 a quarter of artillery shells were filled with gas and Britain had produced around 25,400 tons of toxic chemicals.
Britain used a range of poison gases, originally chlorine
and later phosgene
, diphosgene
and mustard gas. They also used relatively small amounts of the irritant gases chloromethyl chloroformate
, chloropicrin
, bromacetone and ethyl iodoacetate
. Gases were frequently mixed, for example white star was the name given to a mixture of equal volumes of chlorine and phosgene, the chlorine helping to spread the denser but more toxic phosgene. Despite the technical developments, chemical weapons suffered from diminishing effectiveness as the war progressed because of the protective equipment and training which the use engendered on both sides. See Use of poison gas in World War I.
After the war, the Royal Air Force
dropped mustard gas on Bolshevik
troops in 1919, and Winston Churchill
, secretary of state for war and air, suggested that the RAF use it in Iraq
in 1920 during a major revolt there. Historians are divided as to whether or not gas was in fact used.
The UK ratified the Geneva Protocol
on 9 April 1930. The UK signed the Chemical Weapons Convention
on 13 January 1993 and ratified it on 13 May 1996.
Despite the signing of the Geneva Protocol
, the UK carried out extensive testing of chemical weapons from the early 1930s onwards. In the Rawalpindi experiments
, hundreds of Indian soldiers
were exposed to Mustard gas in an attempt to determine the appropriate dosage to use on battlefields. Many of the subjects suffered severe burns from their exposure to the gas.
Many ex-servicemen
have complained about suffering long term illnesses after taking part in tests on nerve agents. It was alleged that before volunteering they were not provided with adequate information about the experiment
s and the risk
, in breach of the Nuremberg Code
of 1947. Alleged abuses at Porton Down became the subject of a lengthy police investigation called Operation Antler
, which covered the use of volunteers in testing a variety of chemical weapons and countermeasures from 1939 until 1989. An inquest was opened on 5 May 2004 into the death on 6 May 1953 of a serviceman, Ronald Maddison
, during an experiment using sarin
. His death had earlier been found by a private MoD
inquest to have been as a result of "misadventure" but this was quashed by the High Court
in 2002. The 2004 hearing closed on 15 November, after a jury found that the cause of Maddison's death was "application of a nerve agent in a non-therapeutic experiment".
on the Scottish
island of Gruinard which left it contaminated and fenced off for nearly fifty years, until an intensive four-year programme to eradicate the spores was completed in 1990. They also manufactured five million linseed-oil cattle
cakes with a hole bored into them for addition of anthrax spores between 1942 and mid-1943. These were to be dropped on Germany
using specially designed containers each holding 400 cakes, in a project known as Operation Vegetarian
. It was intended that the disease would destroy the German beef and dairy herds and possibly spread to the human population. Preparations were not complete until early 1944. Operation Vegetarian was only to be used in the event of a German anthrax attack on the United Kingdom.
Offensive weapons development continued after the war into the 1950s with tests of plague
, brucellosis
, tularemia
and later equine encephalomyelitis and vaccinia
virus
es (the latter as a relatively safe simulant for smallpox).
In particular five sets of trials took place at sea using aerosol clouds and animals.
The programme was cancelled in 1956 when the British government renounced the use of biological and chemical weapons. It ratified the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in March 1975.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
possesses, or has possessed, a variety of weapons of mass destruction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
, including nuclear
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
, biological, and chemical weapons. The United Kingdom is one of the five official nuclear weapon states under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to...
and has an independent nuclear deterrent. The UK has been estimated to have a stockpile of approximately 160 active nuclear warheads and 225 nuclear warheads in total. The United Kingdom renounced the use of chemical and biological weapons in 1956 and subsequently destroyed its general stocks.
Nuclear weapons
Vanguard class submarine
The Vanguard class are the Royal Navy's current nuclear ballistic missile submarines , each armed with up to 16 Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles...
submarines armed with nuclear-tipped Trident missile
Trident missile
The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile equipped with multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicles . The Fleet Ballistic Missile is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines . Trident missiles are carried by fourteen...
s. The principle of operation is based on maintaining deterrent effect by always having at least one submarine at sea, and was designed during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
period. One submarine is normally undergoing maintenance and the remaining two are in port or on training exercises.
Each submarine carries up to sixteen Trident II D-5 missiles, which can each carry up to twelve warheads, for a maximum of 192 warheads per sub. However, the British government announced in 1998 that each submarine would carry only 48 warheads (halving the limit specified by the previous government), which is an average of three per missile. However one or two missiles per submarine are probably armed with fewer warheads for "sub-strategic" use causing others to be armed with more.
The British-designed warheads are thought to be selectable between 0.3 kilotons, 5-10 kt and 100 kt; the yields obtained using either the unboosted primary, the boosted primary, or the entire "physics package". The United Kingdom has purchased the rights to 58 missiles under the Polaris Sales Agreement
Polaris Sales Agreement
The Polaris Sales Agreement was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom which formally arranged for the Polaris missile system to be provided to the UK to maintain its independent nuclear deterrent. The arrangement had been set up in principle as a result of the Nassau Agreement...
(modified for Trident) from the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
's "pool". These missiles are fitted with United Kingdom-built warheads and are exchanged when requiring maintenance. Under the agreement the United States was given certain assurances by the UK regarding the use of the missiles, however the United States does not have any veto on the use of British nuclear weapons.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to...
, which the UK ratified in 1968.
The UK permits the U.S. to deploy nuclear weapons from its territory, the first having arrived in 1954. During the 1980s nuclear armed USAF Ground Launched Cruise Missile
Ground Launched Cruise Missile
The Ground Launched Cruise Missile, or GLCM, was a ground-launched cruise missile developed by the United States Air Force in the last decade of the Cold War.-Overview:...
s were deployed at RAF Greenham Common
RAF Greenham Common
RAF Station Greenham Common is a former military airfield in Berkshire, England. The airfield is located approximately south-southwest of Thatcham; about west of London....
and RAF Molesworth
RAF Molesworth
RAF Molesworth is a Royal Air Force station located near Molesworth, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom with a history dating back to 1917.Its runway and flight line facilities were closed in 1973 and demolished to support ground-launched cruise missile operations in the early 1980s...
. As of 2005 it is believed that about 110 tactical B61 nuclear bomb
B61 nuclear bomb
The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear weapon in the U.S. Enduring Stockpile following the end of the Cold War. It is an intermediate yield strategic and tactical nuclear weapon featuring a two-stage radiation implosion design....
s are stored at RAF Lakenheath
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Lakenheath, is a Royal Air Force military airbase near Lakenheath in Suffolk, England. Although an RAF station, it hosts United States Air Force units and personnel...
for deployment by USAF F-15E aircraft.
In March 2007, the UK Parliament voted to renew the country's Trident nuclear submarine system
British replacement of the Trident system
The British replacement of Trident is a proposal to replace the existing Vanguard class of four Trident ballistic-missile armed submarines with a new class designed to continue a nuclear deterrent after the current boats reach the end of their service lives...
at a cost of £20bn. In July 2008, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
claimed that the decision had already been made to replace and upgrade Britain's nuclear warhead stockpile at a cost of £3bn, extending the life of the warheads until 2055.
Chemical weapons
The UK was a signatory of the Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)
The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...
which outlawed the use of poison gas shells, but omitted deployment from cylinders probably because it had not been considered.
However, during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, in retaliation to the use of chlorine
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
by Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
against British troops from April 1915 onwards, British forces deployed chlorine themselves for the first time during the Battle of Loos
Battle of Loos
The Battle of Loos was one of the major British offensives mounted on the Western Front in 1915 during World War I. It marked the first time the British used poison gas during the war, and is also famous for the fact that it witnessed the first large-scale use of 'new' or Kitchener's Army...
on 25 September 1915. By the end of the war, poison gas use had become widespread on both sides and by 1918 a quarter of artillery shells were filled with gas and Britain had produced around 25,400 tons of toxic chemicals.
Britain used a range of poison gases, originally chlorine
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
and later phosgene
Phosgene
Phosgene is the chemical compound with the formula COCl2. This colorless gas gained infamy as a chemical weapon during World War I. It is also a valued industrial reagent and building block in synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other organic compounds. In low concentrations, its odor resembles...
, diphosgene
Diphosgene
Diphosgene is a chemical compound with the formula ClCO2CCl3. This colorless liquid is a valuable reagent in the synthesis of organic compounds...
and mustard gas. They also used relatively small amounts of the irritant gases chloromethyl chloroformate
Chloromethyl chloroformate
Chloromethyl chloroformate is a chemical compound developed for use in chemical warfare in World War I. It is a tearing agent designed to cause temporary blindness. It is a colorless liquid with a penetrating, irritating odor....
, chloropicrin
Chloropicrin
Chloropicrin, also known as PS, is a chemical compound with the structural formula Cl3CNO2. This colourless highly toxic liquid was once used in chemical warfare and is currently used as a fumigant and nematocide.-History:...
, bromacetone and ethyl iodoacetate
Ethyl iodoacetate
Ethyl iodoacetate is a chemical compound that is a derivative of ethyl acetate. It is a lachrymatory agent.Like many alkyl iodides, ethyl iodoacetate is an alkylating agent, which makes it useful in organic synthesis, yet toxic....
. Gases were frequently mixed, for example white star was the name given to a mixture of equal volumes of chlorine and phosgene, the chlorine helping to spread the denser but more toxic phosgene. Despite the technical developments, chemical weapons suffered from diminishing effectiveness as the war progressed because of the protective equipment and training which the use engendered on both sides. See Use of poison gas in World War I.
After the war, the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
dropped mustard gas on Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
troops in 1919, and Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, secretary of state for war and air, suggested that the RAF use it in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in 1920 during a major revolt there. Historians are divided as to whether or not gas was in fact used.
The UK ratified the Geneva Protocol
Geneva Protocol
The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the first use of chemical and biological weapons. It was signed at Geneva on June 17, 1925 and entered...
on 9 April 1930. The UK signed the Chemical Weapons Convention
Chemical Weapons Convention
The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. Its full name is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction...
on 13 January 1993 and ratified it on 13 May 1996.
Despite the signing of the Geneva Protocol
Geneva Protocol
The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the first use of chemical and biological weapons. It was signed at Geneva on June 17, 1925 and entered...
, the UK carried out extensive testing of chemical weapons from the early 1930s onwards. In the Rawalpindi experiments
Rawalpindi experiments
The Rawalpindi experiments were experiments involving use of Mustard gas carried out on hundreds of Indian soldiers by scientists from Porton Down....
, hundreds of Indian soldiers
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
were exposed to Mustard gas in an attempt to determine the appropriate dosage to use on battlefields. Many of the subjects suffered severe burns from their exposure to the gas.
Many ex-servicemen
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
have complained about suffering long term illnesses after taking part in tests on nerve agents. It was alleged that before volunteering they were not provided with adequate information about the experiment
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
s and the risk
Risk
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
, in breach of the Nuremberg Code
Nuremberg Code
The Nuremberg Code is a set of research ethics principles for human experimentation set as a result of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials at the end of the Second World War.-Background:...
of 1947. Alleged abuses at Porton Down became the subject of a lengthy police investigation called Operation Antler
Operation Antler (Porton Down investigation)
In July 1999 the UK Wiltshire Constabulary opened an investigation into allegations of malfeasance at Porton Down Chemical and Biological Research Establishment...
, which covered the use of volunteers in testing a variety of chemical weapons and countermeasures from 1939 until 1989. An inquest was opened on 5 May 2004 into the death on 6 May 1953 of a serviceman, Ronald Maddison
Ronald Maddison
Leading Aircraftman Ronald George Maddison was a twenty-year-old Royal Air Force engineer who died while acting as a volunteer human "guinea pig" while testing nerve agents at Porton Down, in Wiltshire, England...
, during an experiment using sarin
Sarin
Sarin, or GB, is an organophosphorus compound with the formula [2CHO]CH3PF. It is a colorless, odorless liquid, which is used as a chemical weapon. It has been classified as a weapon of mass destruction in UN Resolution 687...
. His death had earlier been found by a private MoD
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
inquest to have been as a result of "misadventure" but this was quashed by the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
in 2002. The 2004 hearing closed on 15 November, after a jury found that the cause of Maddison's death was "application of a nerve agent in a non-therapeutic experiment".
Biological weapons
During the Second World War, British scientists studied the use of biological weapons, including a test using anthraxAnthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
on the Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
island of Gruinard which left it contaminated and fenced off for nearly fifty years, until an intensive four-year programme to eradicate the spores was completed in 1990. They also manufactured five million linseed-oil cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
cakes with a hole bored into them for addition of anthrax spores between 1942 and mid-1943. These were to be dropped on Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
using specially designed containers each holding 400 cakes, in a project known as Operation Vegetarian
Operation Vegetarian
Operation Vegetarian was a British military plan in 1942 to disseminate linseed cakes infected with anthrax spores onto the fields of Germany. These cakes would have been eaten by the cattle, which would then be consumed by the civilian population, causing the deaths of millions of German citizens...
. It was intended that the disease would destroy the German beef and dairy herds and possibly spread to the human population. Preparations were not complete until early 1944. Operation Vegetarian was only to be used in the event of a German anthrax attack on the United Kingdom.
Offensive weapons development continued after the war into the 1950s with tests of plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
, brucellosis
Brucellosis
Brucellosis, also called Bang's disease, Crimean fever, Gibraltar fever, Malta fever, Maltese fever, Mediterranean fever, rock fever, or undulant fever, is a highly contagious zoonosis caused by ingestion of unsterilized milk or meat from infected animals or close contact with their secretions...
, tularemia
Tularemia
Tularemia is a serious infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. A Gram-negative, nonmotile coccobacillus, the bacterium has several subspecies with varying degrees of virulence. The most important of those is F...
and later equine encephalomyelitis and vaccinia
Vaccinia
Vaccinia virus is a large, complex, enveloped virus belonging to the poxvirus family. It has a linear, double-stranded DNA genome approximately 190 kbp in length, and which encodes for approximately 250 genes. The dimensions of the virion are roughly 360 × 270 × 250 nm, with a mass of...
virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
es (the latter as a relatively safe simulant for smallpox).
In particular five sets of trials took place at sea using aerosol clouds and animals.
- Operation Harness off AntiguaAntiguaAntigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
in 1948-1949. - Operation CauldronOperation CauldronOperation Cauldron was a series of secret biological warfare trials undertaken by the British government in 1952. Scientists from Porton Down and the Royal Navy were involved in releasing biological agents, including pneumonic and bubonic plague and brucellosis and testing the effects of the...
off Stornoway in 1952. The trawler Carella accidentally sailed through a cloud of pneumonic plague bacilli (yersinia pestisYersinia pestisYersinia pestis is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium. It is a facultative anaerobe that can infect humans and other animals....
) during this trial. It was kept under covert observation until the incubation period had elapsed but none of the crew fell ill. - Operation Hesperus off Stornoway in 1953.
- Operation Ozone off NassauNassau, BahamasNassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
in 1954. - Operation Negation off Nassau in 1954-5.
The programme was cancelled in 1956 when the British government renounced the use of biological and chemical weapons. It ratified the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in March 1975.
Radiological weapons
The United Kingdom tested a 1 kiloton bomb incorporating a small amount of cobalt as an experimental radiochemical tracer at their Tadje testing site in Maralinga range, Australia on September 14, 1957.External links
- Video archive of the UK's Nuclear Testing at sonicbomb.com
- FAS bulletin
- The Nuclear Threat Initiative on the United Kingdom
- Churchill's Anthrax Bombs - A Debate by Julian Lewis and Professor RV Jones
- Nuclear Files.org Current information on nuclear stockpiles in the United Kingdom