An official report has confirmed that Cold War-era secrecy was a major factor in the haphazard handling of medical records for nuclear test veterans - because nothing says 'transparency' like a government program that nearly ended the world. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) released the report after years of campaigning by veterans, who have been trying to access records of blood and urine tests taken during the UK's nuclear testing programme between 1952 and 1967. Up to 25,000 service members, scientists, and civilians participated in tests at sites including Australia and Pacific islands. The report notes there has never been a centralized record system - partly because the Army, Navy, and RAF were run by separate departments until 1964 - and that national security concerns influenced what was recorded. In a bureaucratic twist worthy of a Kafka novel, some records may have been inadvertently destroyed in 2023 due to 'incorrect metadata': 34 RAF medical records were automatically shredded because dates of birth were listed as 1800 or 1900, making the personnel over 100 years old. Andy Burnham, in his first speech since re-election, endorsed the veterans' call for a 'special tribunal.' The MoD maintains that overall mortality and cancer rates among nuclear test veterans are similar to other service personnel, but veterans like Brian Unthank expect the report to be 'a total whitewash.'