UK Nuclear Weapons Test Participants Study (NWTPS)
Research type
Research Database
IRAS ID
304764
Contact name
Richard Haylock
Contact email
Research summary
UK Nuclear Weapons Test Participants Study (NWTPS)
REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SW/0137
Date of REC Opinion
1 Nov 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion
Data collection arrangements
The data are for 21,357 male UK service personnel (Navy, Army and RAF) and civilians employed by the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) who were involved in the UK nuclear weapons atmospheric testing programme between 1952 and 1967.
A control group of 22,312 men who did not participate in the tests was also identified. For test participants who had been servicemen, controls were selected from among other servicemen who served in tropical or subtropical areas at the time of the tests. For civilian test participants, controls were chosen from other men employed by AWE at the time of the tests. Controls were matched with participants for age, type of armed service, rank (officers and other ranks; socioeconomic class for civilians), and date of entry to the study.
The data consist of name, address (based on MoD/ AWE original records), service number, date of birth, NHS/CHI and national insurance number, rank/ occupation, date and cause of death and cancer registrations.
These data were collated from Ministry of Défense and AWE contemporary records and from national mortality and cancer registries and are held electronically on a database.
Research programme
The project was commissioned in 1983 to investigate reports of health detriment amongst those who had participated in the UK nuclear weapons atmospheric tests held in the Pacific and in Australia between 1952 and 1967. The long-running records-based study has reported in the peer-reviewed scientific press and continues the follow-up through national registries.
Research database title
UK Nuclear Weapons Test Participants Study (NWTPS)
Establishment organisation
Public Health England /UK Health Security Agency (after 1/09/2021)
Establishment organisation address
Chilton
Didcot
Oxfordshire
OX11 0RQ