Kiwi officers sent into nuclear fallout zone

New Zealanders were among 24 soldiers asked to drive, march or crawl through a nuclear fallout zone in the Australian desert in 1956, official papers released in Britain show.

The officers, New Zealanders, Australians and British, entered the fallout zone three days after a nuclear device had been detonated there, a military memo from Australian Government archives said.

"The object was to discover what types of clothing would give best protection against radioactive contamination in conditions of warfare."

Scottish radiation researcher Sue Rabbitt-Roff, who came across a reference to "clothing trails" in the memo, said it appeared to contradict British Ministry of Defence denials that men were used as guinea pigs.

The document confirmed that servicemen were exposed to radiation in the clothing trials, she said.

"This was perhaps a necessary part of Cold War defence, but to deny such experiments happened is to demean the role of servicemen and to deny their claim to the duty of care owed by governments."

- NZPA