FIRST BRITISH A-BOMB

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26659, 19 February 1952, Page 7

FIRST BRITISH A-BOMB

Test In Australia This Year (MX Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) / CANBERRA, FAruary 18. The biggest team of scientists ever marshalled for a major project in Australia will be assembled for the teat of a British-made atomic weapon this year. The weapon, the first atomic weapon to be terted by Britain, will be exploded either in some part of the Woomera rocket range in Central Australia, or elsewhere in the remote interior. The British Government announced last night that it would test the weapon this year. An announcement from No. 10 Downing Street said: ‘‘ln the course of this year the United Kingdom Government intends to test an atomic weapon produced in the United Kingdom. In close co-operation with the Government of Australia, the test will take place at a site in Australia. * ' “It will be conducted in conditions which will ensure that there will be no danger whatever from radio-activity to the health of the people or animals in the Commonwealth.”

The announcement gave no hint of the type of weapon or whether it would be dropped from an aircraft or fired from a gun. Many scientists who have been working on the British weapon were members of the British team which took part in the original atomic work in the United States during the war.

The announcement was not unexpected, since the Supply Minister (Mr George Strauss) in the last British , Government said nearly a year ago that Britain had the technical knowledge to produce the atom bomb. Six weeks ago a United States State Department spokesman said that Britain had asked America if she could try out the first atom .bomb in Mexico. America’s security laws forbidding giving atomic information to other countries are believed to be the reason why Britain dropped the request and decided to use Australia. Two reasons why Woomera will probably be used are that it is already well protected by security measures excluding unauthorised persons and that there is no aboriginal population which could be exposed to danger. Woomera is sufficiently remote from any population to ensure the dispersal of radio-active particles which may drift from the test.

It is believed in Canberra that the prime purpose of the test will be experiments with an explosive material and mechanism produced in Britain. It is considered unlikely that Britain has advanced to the stage at which the testing of a hydrogen type reactor could ne contemplated. The Canberra correspondent of the "Melbourne Herald" says it seems probable that the test will consist of firing a charge from a tower or supporting structure as in the first American tests or the dropping of a charge from an aircraft. It is not considered likely that the bomb will be carried in a guided missile. It is understood that a television camera may be erected close to the site at the explosion. Mr Menzies said to-day that the Australian Government would cooperate closely in the test, which would be conducted In ‘ conditions ensuring that there would be no danger.