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Atomic bomb secrets withdrawn from view
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 16/04/2002)
Government files giving precise measurements and full details of the materials used for all the components of the first British atomic bomb were withdrawn from view at the Public Record Office yesterday. Access to the documents, which included blueprints for the bomb's plutonium core and the initiator which sets off the atomic reaction, was put on hold pending a Ministry of Defence review of whether or not they should be available. The availability of the documents was revealed in The Telegraph yesterday. The MoD said that someone would be going to look at the documents again "as soon as possible" in order to ensure that they should be allowed to remain in the public domain. The release of the documents came to light after an engineer who worked on the bomb, codenamed Blue Danube, discovered them while trying to fill in gaps in his knowledge of the project. One of the files suggested ways in which an atomic bomb could be smuggled into Britain without being detected.
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