Projects & Campaigning

At LABRATS, we are always asked to work on and endorse projects. We have to be extremely careful with our selections due to the pressure of time and, most importantly, suitability for the community. Our Directors are consulted and decisions made. We wanted to highlight some exciting projects which we have signed up for. These projects are not just about campaigning; they are about education and raising awareness.

Office for Veterans' Affairs

Working with the Office for Veterans' Affairs, the Minister for Veterans and People, and John Healey MP (Secretary of State for Defence) is an extremely important part of our campaigning work. We have built relationships over many years, which provide access to Ministers. We have just completed a meeting with Louise Sandhers-Jones MP (Minister for Veterans and People) and have written confirmation from the PM regarding a meeting in the New Year.

Alan Owen with John Healey (Secretary of State for Defence) in 10 Downing Street

These meetings are held to ensure the veterans' voice is heard and that the campaign for truth and justice continues. Before Labour were in power, these meetings did not happen regularly, and we are proud that this relationship is currently the best it has ever been. Steve Purse and Alan meet with the OVA on a monthly basis.

Merlin Project

The Merlin database was released this year. It was through continued pressure by Susie Boniface and meetings with the Secretary of State for Defence and The National Archives (TNA) that the files were released. Without these discussions, it would not have been released. We have worked hard with the OVA and TNA to secure a release without using the Discovery system and have secured exports, and continue to work with them to ensure the files can be accessed without delay. Over 5,000 of the 28,000 records have been released so far.

The new Merlin Project, which LABRATS are involved in with the Centre for People's Justice, the University of Liverpool and Susie Boniface, is a fantastic project which engages students and combines many disciplines through trauma-informed practices.

The project will run for the next six months and see many Merlin files analysed and categorised for the future. This collaborative working is essential to ensure that the expertise available to the community is used effectively. This project will set the standard for social justice reference databases, taking a trauma-informed approach, with the Nuclear Truth protocols at the centre of the work. (https://nucleartruthproject.org/)

Candours and Communities

Steve Purse and Alan have been working hard with the Centre for People's Justice on a travelling exhibition, highlighting the injustices throughout the UK. This new exhibition will travel across the UK, showing 12 injustices, and the Nuclear Testing Legacy is part of this exhibition.

The exhibition will start in 2026 and will allow audiences to engage with LABRATS and our campaigning. Further information will be made available via ATOM Magazine and through our Social Media channels.

All-Tests Reunion (14th-18th September 2026)

The 2026 All-Tests Reunion currently has 56 people signed up. We have 120 discounted places available, and you can sign up at https://www.labrats.international/atr

It is an incredible event that every member of the nuclear community should experience.

Our Planet, The People, My Blood

Following the outstanding success of the private screening in London, the documentary 'Our Planet, The People, My Blood' will be released in 2026.

Further details of this will be made available when the schedule is finalised.

This documentary has taken three years to make. It is an exceptional piece of work, and the initial reviews are brilliant. A screening in Parliament for MPs is scheduled for January 2026.

Alan Owen is an Executive Producer of this documentary and will be ensuring that the voice of the nuclear community is heard across the world.

Nucleus

Nucleus is a hybrid feature documentary unpacking the unending and urgent humanitarian legacy of nuclear weapons testing on our lives.

Filming has already been undertaken at the United Nations, and the team are crowdfunding to continue the project.

Directed by James Thomson, Nucleus will orbit the lives of contributors Diana (Kazakhstan), Alan (UK) and Hinamoeura (French Polynesia), whose lives have all been deeply affected by nuclear test explosions, as they work together to overcome the emotional and physical consequences of these experiments.

Find out more at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/nucleus

Missing Records Review

The Office for Veterans' Affairs is conducting a review into the records held by the Ministry of Defence in relation to Blood and urine testing, and a full report on their finding will be published in 2026. This work has been undertaken with historical branches, and LABRATS have been kept up to date with the progress by the OVA. This work has been extensive and has taken longer than we wanted, but it will be comprehensive.

Dates for your Diary

We will be attending various events in 2026; these are important events for the Nuclear Community. These dates are already in the diary, with many more to follow:

8th - 10th May - NCCF Annual Convention, Hilton Hotel, East Midlands Airport.

18th - 22nd August - NAAV Conference, USA.

14th-18th September - All-Tests Reunion

1st / 3rd October - NAVAD Day

30th November - 4th December - TPNW First Review Conference, New York.

Conclusion

With our educational launch this year, we have already educated many students across the UK, and the number continues to rise. No one must forget the testing program and its effects.

The quest for truth and justice has been a long, hard road, and we have lost many campaigners along the way. They will never see the justice they campaigned for. We get frustrated by the time taken for reports, for investigations, for responses, but we continue to apply pressure.

More projects are in the pipeline that are at early stages for 2026, which have not yet been confirmed, but we are extremely busy working with ICAN, WCIA and Jamie Sefton.

But we must point out that we are volunteers; we do this because of our connection to the cause, and no one takes a salary. We will not tolerate any abuse of our Directors; we listen to our Associate membership and take direction from them. Please remember that our Directors also suffer from health issues.

We have seen many bad actors, disrupters of our cause, who seek to derail our work. But you can be assured that we will continue along our current path, holding the UK Government to account, building partnerships across the world and working with incredible campaigners to ensure the Nuclear Community receives the truth and justice they deserve.

If you are part of any community that you feel could benefit from a talk or speech from LABRATS, please get in touch. If you are attending an event and believe that LABRATS should, tell us, and the Directors will discuss it.

We welcome all inputs and opinions, and we abide by the Nuclear Truth Protocols.

We would like to thank everyone for their efforts this year. It has been a very busy year, and without the support of our volunteers, there would be no progress. It is a team effort, with many people helping across our projects.

Please note that the LABRATS team will be taking a break from 23rd December 2025 until 5th January 2026. I am sure you will agree that we deserve a break!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.