April 4, 2022

This is quite a dryly narrated, but still interesting, documentary demonstrating the British Government's development of atomic weapons after the end of WWII, and of their construction of a specially designed testing ground in the remote Australian Monte Bello islands. The idea being that it not only tested the potency of the weapons, but also allowed scientists to assess how effective structural defences might be against any exposure to the blas… read the rest.

This is quite a dryly narrated, but still interesting, documentary demonstrating the British Government's development of atomic weapons after the end of WWII, and of their construction of a specially designed testing ground in the remote Australian Monte Bello islands. The idea being that it not only tested the potency of the weapons, but also allowed scientists to assess how effective structural defences might be against any exposure to the blast, heat and/or radiation. It has some fine actuality photography of HMS Campania as it carries the scientists; trains the sailors to deal with radiation leaks and actually, for me anyway, demonstrated just ineffective safety protocols were at the time - little more than rubber gloves and gaberdine underpants! Watching this makes you even more aware of just how little we understood about the damage that could be caused and the long term effects of this testing and contamination. Though clearly not produced to be anything other a celebration of Britain's role in the world, it is still worth watching - the end is eerily silent!.

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