This is the story of Staff Sgt Norman Hardy of the British Royal Engineer, now deceased who was made to work in Uranium labs, in the 50's and 60's without adequate protection. The UK has refused any compensation up to now and his son is taking up the fight on his behalf. All details are still covered to this day by the UK Official Secrets Act.

WORDS FROM A DEAD MAN.

What you are about to read is my Dad’s own recollection of events, in the letter he had to write for a Negligence case against the government of the United Kingdom.

13 December 1973 9 Tallawarra Ave PADSTOW 2211 AUSTRALIA.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Woods,

As requested, I will try to recollect details of the work in progress in the Physical Metallurgy Laboratories, during the period relating to the claim, ref: 1957 to 1966.

Transferred into the Research Department, I was given the job of assisting Dr P.R.V. Evans who was just starting a project of feasibility tests on methods of manufacturing URANIUM Fuel Element Plates.

The Plates were approximately 2 ½” x 2 ½” x 3/8” and all work was done in an open Laboratory in S.17’s “V “building, with bare hands and no fume cupboards or protective aids whatsoever.

Tea was brewed and sandwiches and meals were consumed in the Laboratory at tea breaks and lunch time.

There were three main methods of production investigated; the first one was by the Cold Pressing of URANIUM powder and Oxides in a jig with 2% wax added.

These pressings were removed and carefully loaded onto refractory tiles in a stainless steel cradle.

Everything was then inserted into a high temperature furnace (which we manufactured) with a water cooled de-waxing head inside.

After de-waxing at low temperature under vacuum, the temperature was increased to accomplish the sintering of the specimens.

These were removed after an overnight cooling period, but on two occasions we had a fire, caused by the specimens igniting due to premature opening of the vacuum furnace.

These were controlled by quickly evacuating the furnace with the vacuum pumps.

Another method of producing plates was by flat pressing of the URANIUM powders in a mild steel matrix, between high speed steel plates.

This was set up on a 200 ton press, inside a high frequency induction coil which provided the required pressing temperatures.

After pressing operations, the specimens were removed and I would then saw the mild steel matrix away from the Uranium with a hacksaw, then cut the specimen to the required size and thickness on a surface grinder.

The high speed steel plates were indented during each pressing operation and I would then ground flat the surface before the next pressing.

The third method was the centrifugal casting of plates in a high frequency vacuum furnace.

Four plates were cast from a central stem.

On removal they were hack sawn off the central stem and made into specimens on the surface grinder in S.17 (V) building.

All this work was done as stated before, without any air extraction or protection.

Dr Evans then began another project which was investigating the possibilities of making a stable alloy of Uranium, which would not grow in size when subjected to thermal cycling conditions between 300*c and 700*c.

Mr Colin Moore a graduate metallurgist, came into the team and we were moved into a new lab in S.17 (S) building with the vacuum sintering furnace.

We proceeded to make a test rig to simulate conditions of thermal cycling in the reactor.

This was finished and specimens of different alloys were made which were 1” x 1” x 1/8” in size.

These were made on the surface grinder.

The specimens were mounted on a stainless steel hook and welded into a stainless steel can in a vacuum arc melting furnace (see sketches).

After mounting, the cans were sawn open, examined, and measured for deformation, etc, before re-canning and continuing the cycling tests.

An old surface grinder was acquired and I adapted this to our needs with a jig and slitting wheel.

After a small fire on the grinder, Dr Evans and I suggested that an underwater cutting set up would be advisable.

I then designed and made this (see attached sketch) and covered the fire hazard.

Later, a Dr Napton from Aldermaston came on a visit and informed me that this would still not be acceptable at Aldermaston, and that even the grinding spindle would have to be effectively sealed.

It was then suggested that I wear rubber gloves when handling the wet specimens of URANIUM, because of toxic hazard.

Tea and food were consumed in the laboratory and even the vacuum pumps were discharged into the laboratory atmosphere.

A Mrs Isabelle Hardwich, a scientist who was experimenting on electron beam welding arrived to take over part of the laboratory.

She requested that the laboratory first be monitored by the Radiation Section and we did what she requested.

It was after this was done that the laboratory and surrounding buildings were discovered to be red hot.

After this, all the URANIUM was packed into containers and dispatched to Aldermaston.

A severe decontamination programme was implemented both in (V) building and (S) building.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of the ISOTOPE values of the materials handled is vague.

It did not seem my place to question this factor.

Especially when Dr Evans and Mr Colin Moore, who were graduate metallurgists, never doubted the competence of the people responsible for the projects, namely Dr. T. Raine and Mr. L.D. Brownlee.

They were as surprised as I was when we were required to undergo medical tests for possible ill effects.

These tests were in the form of urine and blood tests over a period of time.

The tests were done by Dr. Wilkinson a Pathologist in Manchester.

As stated before, I had a low blood count and required further tests later, which were taken by medical staff at work and the samples sent to Dr. Wilkinson.

Later we were pronounced fit and well, but at a safety conference we were told by Mr. P.P. Starling the Research Manager, that the company had been guilty of gross negligence in this matter.

Dr. Evans left to take up a post in Chicago U.S.A followed by Mr. Colin Moore who also left the company.

I was then transferred to work with another graduate metallurgist, Mr. Eric Lloyd in laboratory S.15.

The work initially was of a conventional nature, e.g. tensile tests on MOLYBDENUM and ZIRCONIUM alloys.

Then began the project, which is the other facet, of the claim for radiation cataracts.

This was the making of the vacuum bell jar welding unit, (see sketch).

This unit was for special welding of MOLYBDENUM and ZIRCONIUM in controlled atmospheres.

After making the unit and testing, we began extensive welding of MOLYBDENUM specimens, both lateral welds and end caps on cylindrical specimens.

The bell jar was evacuated with rotary and diffusion pumps and then flooded to 1/3rd of an atmosphere with 99.995 argon gas.

Before each weld, the fixed Tungsten electrode was arced on a block of ZIRCONIUM to act as a “GETTER” and further purify the atmosphere for the welding tests.

After this project finished, Mr. Lloyd was transferred to METRO CUTANIT, a subsidiary company.

Once again I was transferred, this time to the BERYLLIUM Laboratory.

This Laboratory was operated under full toxic hazard conditions, with filtered extracts, fume cupboards and the surface grinder was completely encased, with glove ports for operation.

The bell jar unit was installed and used for many projects and I was doing all welding.

A project was started on ZIRCONIUM, NIROBIUM to make a super conductor wire.

Electrodes of these metals were required to be melted into ingots in a consumable arc melting furnace.

The electrodes were made up of 12” x 1” x ¼” Flat strips of each of the metals and were required to be welded along the length of each side.

These involved long welding periods on the vacuum bell jar unit.

Only the conventional welding glass was used and on reflection, I am now of the opinion that this was not good enough for these metals.

Having had a lot of special welding experience on stainless steels, e.g. the welding of the NEUTRON sources for the DUNGENESS POWER STATION, I now remember that when welding the ZIRCONIUM, all the details of objects in view are extremely clear, whereas on the conventional metals it is only the immediate proximity of the weld pool which is visible in any detail.

The melting of ZIRCONIUM in vacuum arc furnaces of the consumable and nonconsumable is a far different proposition than in the bell jar unit, for the following reasons.

In the arc furnaces of both types the metals are melted to purify and obviously give off the impurities, which condense on the water cooled walls and also the 2” viewing port glass.

This acts to some degree as a filter.

As you will appreciate also, the consumable type furnace electrode is arc melted into a deep, water cooled copper crucible and the arc is only visible at the end of the melting operation whilst “topping” the ingot.

Having used both types of furnace quite extensively, one can make an honest and feasible comparison with the bell jar unit.

The reason, that these observations have been included, in anticipation of an argument that other Technicians and Graduates used these furnaces with no present ill effects.

I was the only one to use the Vacuum Bell Jar Unit, and it can be seen clearly from the enclosed sketch of the unit, that the whole operation “is in the open” so to speak.

Well gentleman, that is all that I can recollect that could have any bearing on the present state of my vision.

After five operations over the last three years to remove both lenses and rectify post operative complications, I am left with one good eye with a soft Hydron lens fitted, which enables me to do a comparatively simple job as a maintenance fitter.

Your honest appraisal of the situation and probable cause would be greatly appreciated.

Yours truly,

NORMAN HARDY.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am the eldest son of Staff Sgt Norman HARDY, ROYAL ENGINEER, deceased, and would like to add a few words on behalf of my Dad.

To UK Government: "You broke him into pieces, piece by bloody piece, until nothing remained that resembled the strong Dad that I loved and new."

He was haunted by the sight of children around S.17, playing in storm drains where daily radio-active waste were washed into.

He also felt partly responsible for the dumping of thousands of toxic and radioactive drums into the Irish sea.

Even after all he went through, he still would not hear a bad word spoken against the UNITED KINGDOM.

He loved his country of birth, THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS.

He was greatly hurt when his solicitor came back from the UK and told him that he no longer existed in the records, he had been exspunged.

Dad would always make things seem better than they were.

Believe me his sight was terrible and after 7 years trying to get some form of assistance from the United Kingdom, it came as a crushing blow to him that his country that he loved so much, had abandoned him and us half way around the world.

Evrytime I tried to go public, I was unsuccessful, as the reach of the UK government and its tentacles stopped all my attempts at telling Dads story.

Until the advent of Twitter, Scribd and the internet opened a door.

We called twitter Dads white horse.

His story is slowly getting seen around the world now, in blogs and other posts, so to me it is a victory.

Sincerely thank you,

Ian Sparticusian Hardy

JM believes in the right of free speech and you have the right of reply with a full article of your own or just a comment. JM as always remains neutral.

Comments (11)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments