Operation Hurricane Operation Hurricane Operation Hurricane was the test of the first UK atomic device, on 3 October 1952. A plutonium implosion device was detonated in the lagoon in the Monte Bello Islands in Western Australia. With the success of Operation Hurricane, Britain became the third nuclear power after the United States and the Soviet Union. During the Second World War, Britain commenced a nuclear weapons project, known as Tube Alloys, but the 1943 Quebec Agreement merged it with the American Manhattan Project. Several key British scientists worked as part of the British contribution to the Manhattan Project, but after the war
Atomic veteran represented by Association Moruroa E Tatou. The organisation has been critical of the French government's initial denial of harm, and limited commitment to compensation to total value of $13.5 million. The president of Association Moruroa E Tatou estimates that between 15,000 and 30,000 people worked on the test program, but the official number remains a national secret. Australian servicemen supported British nuclear weapons test programs at Emu Field, Maralinga, the Montebello Islands and Christmas Island during period 1952-1963. Associations representing Australian atomic veterans include the Australian Nuclear Veterans Association. and the Australian Ex-Servicemen Atomic Survivors Association. The Clarke Review of