British nuclear tests at Maralinga British nuclear tests at Maralinga occurred between 1955 and 1963 at the Maralinga site , part of the Woomera Prohibited Area , in South Australia . A total of seven major nuclear tests were performed , with approximate yields ranging from 1 to 27 kilotons of TNT equivalent . The site was also used for hundreds of minor trials , many of which were intended to investigate the effects of fire or non - nuclear explosions on atomic weapons . The site was contaminated with radioactive materials and an initial cleanup was attempted in 1967 . The McClelland Royal Commission , an examination of the effects of the tests , delivered its report in 1985 , and found that significant radiation hazards still existed at many of the Maralinga test areas . It recommended another cleanup , which was completed in 2000 at a cost of $ 108 million . Debate continued over the safety of the site and the long - term health effects on the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land and former personnel . In 1994 , the Australian Government paid compensation amounting to $ 13 . 5 million to the local Maralinga Tjarutja people . Historical context . On 3 October 1952 , the United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapon , named " Hurricane " , at the Montebello Islands off the coast of Western Australia . A year later the first nuclear test on the Australian mainland was Totem 1 ( 9 . 1 kilotons ) at Emu Field in the Great Victoria Desert , South Australia , on 15 October 1953 . Totem 2 ( 7 . 1 kilotons ) followed two weeks later on 27 October . The British government formally requested a permanent test facility on 30 October 1953 . Due to concerns about nuclear fallout from the previous tests at Emu Field , the recently surveyed Maralinga site was selected for this purpose . The new site was announced in May 1955 . It was developed as a joint , co - funded facility between the British and Australian governments . Prior to selection , the Maralinga site was inhabited by the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal peoples , for whom it had a " great spiritual significance " . Many were relocated to a new settlement at Yulata , and attempts were made to curtail access to the Maralinga site . These were often unsuccessful . Major tests . Two major test series were conducted at the Maralinga site : Operation Buffalo and Operation Antler . Operation Buffalo commenced on 27 September 1956 . The operation consisted of the testing of four nuclear devices , codenamed " One Tree " , " Marcoo " , " Kite " and " Breakaway " respectively . " One Tree " ( 12 . 9 kilotons ) and " Breakaway " ( 10 . 8 kilotons ) were exploded from towers , " Marcoo " ( 1 . 4 kilotons ) was exploded at ground level , and " Kite " ( 2 . 9 kilotons ) was released by a Royal Air Force Vickers Valiant bomber from a height of 35 , 000 feet . This was the first launching of a British atomic weapon from an aircraft . The fallout from these tests was measured using sticky paper , air sampling devices , and water sampled from rainfall and reservoirs . The radioactive cloud from Buffalo 1 ( One Tree ) reached a height of 37 , 500 ft , exceeding the predicted 27 , 900 ft , and radioactivity was detected in South Australia , Northern Territory , New South Wales , and Queensland . All four Buffalo tests were criticised by the 1985 McClelland Royal Commission , which concluded that they ere fired under inappropriate conditions . In 2001 , Dr Sue Rabbit Roff , a researcher from the University of Dundee , uncovered documentary evidence that troops had been ordered to run , walk and crawl across areas contaminated by the Buffalo tests in the days immediately following the detonations ; a fact that the British government later admitted . Dr Roff stated that " it puts the lie to the British government ' s claim that they never used humans for guinea pig - type experiments in nuclear weapons trials in Australia . " Operation Antler followed in 1957 . Antler was designed to test components for thermonuclear weapons , with particular emphasis on triggering mechanisms . Three tests began in September , codenamed " Tadje " , " Biak " and " Taranaki " . The first two tests were conducted from towers , the last was suspended from balloons . Yields from the weapons were 0 . 93 kilotons , 5 . 67 kilotons and 26 . 6 kilotons respectively . The Tadje test used cobalt pellets as a ' tracer ' for determining yield ; later rumours developed that Britain had been developing a cobalt bomb . The Royal Commission found that personnel handling these pellets were later exposed to the active cobalt 60 . Although the Antler series were better planned and organised than earlier series , intermediate fallout from the Taranaki test exceeded predictions . Minor tests . In addition to the major tests , a large number of minor trials were also carried out , from June 1955 and extended through to May 1963 . Although the major tests had been carried out with some publicity , the minor tests were carried out in absolute secrecy . These minor tests left a dangerous legacy of radioactive contamination at Maralinga . The four series of minor trials were codenamed Kittens , Tims , Rats and Vixen . In all , these trials included up to 700 tests , with tests involving experiments with plutonium , uranium , and beryllium . Operation Kittens involved 99 trials , performed at both Maralinga and Emu Field in 1953 - 1961 . The tests were used in the development of neutron initiators , involving use of polonium - 210 and uranium , and generated " relatively large amounts of radioactive contamination . " Operation Tims took place in 1955 - 1963 , and involved 321 trials of uranium and beryllium tampers , as well as studies of plutonium compression . Operation Rats investigated explosive dispersal of uranium . 125 trials took place between 1956 and 1960 . Operation Vixen was formulated to investigate what would happen to a nuclear device which burnt or was subject to a non - nuclear explosion . 31 Vixen A trials between 1959 and 1961 investigated the effects of an accidental fire on a nuclear weapon , and involved a total of about 1 kg of plutonium . Twelve Vixen B trials , between 1960 and 1963 , attempted to discover the effects of high explosives detonating a nuclear weapon in a fire ( typical of conditions which would occur in aviation accidents ) and involved 22 kg of plutonium . They produced " jets of molten , burning plutonium extending hundreds of feet into the air . " It was the subsequent disposal of the waste plutonium from these minor trials – Vixen B especially – which created the major radiation problems at the site . Cleanup and effects . The initial cleanup operation was codenamed Operation Brumby , and was conducted in 1967 . Attempts were made to dilute the concentration of radioactive material by turning over and mixing the surface soil . Additionally , the remains of the firings , including plutonium - contaminated fragments , were buried in 22 concrete - capped pits . By the 1980s some Australian servicemen and traditional Aboriginal owners of the land were suffering blindness , sores and illnesses such as cancer . They " started to piece things together , linking their afflictions with their exposure to nuclear testing " . Groups including the Atomic Veterans Association and the Pitjantjatjara Council pressured the government , until in 1985 it agreed to hold a royal commission to investigate the damage that had been caused . The McClelland Royal Commission into the tests delivered its report in late 1985 , and found that significant radiation hazards still existed at many of the Maralinga test sites , particularly at " Taranaki " , where the " Vixen B " trials into the effects of burning plutonium had been carried out . A Technical Assessment Group was set up to advise on rehabilitation options , and a much more extensive cleanup program was initiated at the site . The " TAG Report " plan was approved in 1991 and work commenced on site in 1996 and was completed in 2000 at a cost of $ 108 million in 1999 dollars . In the worst - contaminated areas , 350 , 000 cubic metres of soil and debris were removed from an area of more than 2 square kilometers , and buried in trenches . Eleven debris pits were also treated with in - situ vitrification . Most of the site ( approximately 3 , 200 square kilometres ) is now safe for unrestricted access and approximately 120 square kilometres is considered safe for access but not permanent occupancy . Alan Parkinson has observed that " an Aboriginal living a semi - traditional lifestyle would receive an effective dose of 5 mSv / a ( five times that allowed for a member of the public ) . Within the 120 km² , the effective dose would be up to 13 times greater . " A Department of Veterans ' Affairs study concluded that " Overall , the doses received by Australian participants were small . . . . Only 2 % of participants received more than the current Australian annual dose limit for occupationally exposed persons ( 20 mSv ) . " However , such findings are contested . A 1999 study for the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association found that 30 per cent of involved veterans had died , mostly in their fifties , from cancers . Successive Australian governments failed to compensate servicemen who contracted cancers following exposure to radiation at Maralinga . However , after a British decision in 1988 to compensate its own servicemen , the Australian Government negotiated compensation for several Australian servicemen suffering from two specific conditions , leukemia ( except lymphatic leukemia ) and the rare blood disorder multiple myeloma . One author suggests that the resettlement and denial of aboriginal access to their homelands " contributed significantly to the social disintegration which characterises the community to this day . Petrol sniffing , juvenile crime , alcoholism and chronic friction between residents and the South Australian police have become facts of life . " In 1994 , the Australian Government reached a compensation settlement with Maralinga Tjarutja , which resulted in the payment of $ 13 . 5 million in settlement of all claims in relation to the nuclear testing . In popular culture . " The Career Highlights of the Mamu " is an Australian play by Trevor Jamieson and Scott Rankin , performed by the Adelaide Festival in February – March 2002 . The play tells the story of the Tjuntjuntjara Aboriginal people , who lived in the desert country between South Australia and Western Australia , and their experience with British nuclear testing at Maralinga and Emu Field . Tribal elders describe being moved out of the area , and the death and illness of their people when they attempted to return to their contaminated homelands .