1 year ago
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The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have consistently supported the campaign of British nuclear test veterans and their families for justice and today – on the United Nations Day against Nuclear Testing (29 August) – the NFLAs have written to Johnny Mercer MP, Minister for Veterans Affairs, urging the UK Government to institute a compensation scheme, similar to that available to US test veterans, alongside awarding the new Nuclear Test Medal.
Around 40,000 British military personnel participated in the testing of atomic and hydrogen bombs in Australia and in the Pacific, and some were also present during a further phase of testing in Nevada. An estimated 2,000 remain alive.
Around 22,000 British nuclear test veterans and their descendants are now eligible to receive a newly minted Nuclear Test Medal for which they have been campaigning for so long. The face of the medal features an atom surrounded by olive branches and bears the words ‘Nuclear Test Medal’. The reverse features a profile of His Majesty King Charles III. It is anticipated that the first medals will be issued in coming weeks to enable veterans to wear them with pride on Remembrance Day 2023.
The NFLAs believe that veterans and their descendants deserve compensation as well as a medal. Councillor Tommy Judge, himself a military veteran and now Manchester’s NFLA representative, explains why the NFLAs are committed to continuing to support the call for compensation for test veterans:
“We give credit to the UK Government for now finally realising one of the aspirations of nuclear test veterans by awarding them a medal with the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace saying recently that he will be delighted to issue the medal to recognise the ‘invaluable contribution’ made by veterans to ‘the safety and security of the UK’.
“However, we remain deeply critical of the government’s failure to fully recognise that this ‘invaluable contribution’ often came at a terrible price. The test veteran community, and the charities that fight for them, have for many years reported instances of cancer, often repeated, and premature death amongst veterans and many profound disabilities amongst their offspring. Many people believe that this was the result of exposure to radiation in these tests.
“The Secretary of State has yet to make any promise of compensation for the suffering and chronic ill-health caused to veterans or their children, nor recompense for the wives and families whose husbands and fathers died too young. The NFLAs believe that the time to do so is long overdue and that it is now”.
In the United States, The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was passed in October 1990. It provides a one-off, no-questions-asked payment of $75,000 to any veteran who has participated in a nuclear test who has subsequently developed one of the cancers specified in the legislation, without any requirement being placed on that veteran to prove that his/her medical condition is the result of participating in the test. President Biden has recently extended the deadline to make a claim by two years until 2024. It has paid out over $2.3 billion in benefits to over 36,000 claimants.
Contrast this to the UK where relatively few nuclear veterans have been able to secure a service pension because of the requirement to prove absolutely that there is a causal link between their ill-health and exposure to radiation. Ironically UK servicemen who participated in Operation Dominic with US Forces are eligible for a payment from the American Government if they developed one of the established conditions.
As then Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Judge opened a conference hosted by the nuclear test veteran campaign group LABRATs in Manchester in February 2022; one of the demands of the veterans present was for compensation for suffering caused to themselves and their loved ones. To meet this aspiration, Cllr Judge would like to see the UK Government also establish a RECA fund and soon:
“In the United States, surviving nuclear test veterans suffering from a range of medical conditions, or families after suffering their loss, whether a causal link to their service is established or not, are eligible to receive $75,000 – no ifs, no buts.
“Ironically, British service personnel who participated in joint tests with US forces and who meet the eligibility criteria can automatically access this the payment from the Government of the United States, but from the UK Government they automatically receive nothing. Instead, they must go through a long- and uncertain process, and many hoops, to seek a service pension. The disparity in treatment seems manifestly unfair.
“Even the Isle of Man has taken this ‘bull by the horns’ and made a payment to nuclear test veterans who are resident on the island – if Ministers in the Isle of Man can do it then surely too can Ministers of the Crown if they truly recognise the ‘invaluable contribution’ of these men. Nuclear test veterans are getting old. They cannot wait any longer for recompense – the time to do this is now alongside the award of a service medal. The NFLAs have made plain to Ministers they need to pay up!”
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For more information please contact NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Notes to Editors
The letter to the Minister reads:
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs,
The Rt Hon. Johnny Mercer MP,
Tuesday 29 August 2023
Dear Minister,
Today is the UN Day against Nuclear Testing (29 August); so it is only fitting that I am writing to you on behalf of the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities in support of the claim for compensation made by Britain’s nuclear test veterans, their family members, and descendants for their loss and suffering.
Like yourself, I am myself a former military veteran. As a soldier, I was proud to serve my country in our nation’s armed forces. I have faced danger and I am no stranger to death. So, in February 2022, as Lord Mayor of Manchester, I was very proud to be invited to open a conference in our city organised by the nuclear test veterans’ campaign group LABRATS held to renew their fight for justice in advance of the 70th anniversary of the first UK atomic bomb test in October of that year.
In attendance were veterans, wives, and family members whose lives were forever shattered by their experience of participating, directly or indirectly, in Britain’s atomic and nuclear weapons tests.
One after another the veterans on the stage spoke of their experience of participating in these tests without possessing the full knowledge of the likely impact upon their health and without being provided with any protective clothing, they talked of their army mates who had died young and in agonising pain, and they told of their own prolonged and repeated ill-health, with all having suffered multiple cancers; wives told of their sleepless nights with husbands faced with recurring nightmares and their own personal anguish over whether to bear children not knowing if they would be born disabled or with life-changing illnesses; and the children present, now grown up, told of their grief at the early loss of their own fathers and the disabilities and illnesses that they were born with and now live with, one even reported that she had just received a terminal diagnosis.
These testimonies were harrowing. There was not a dry eye at the conference.
And all of those who gave testament had, and have, no doubt that their misfortune was all attributable to the exposure of these veterans to radiation at these tests and in the clean-up operations that followed them.
Around 40,000 British military personnel participated in the testing of atomic and hydrogen bombs in Australia and in the Pacific, and some were also present during a further phase of testing in Nevada. An estimated 2,000 remain alive.
The NFLA’s join the nuclear test veteran community in welcoming the decision by the UK Government to award a medal to an estimated 22,000 British nuclear test veterans and their descendants who are now eligible to apply.
The newly minted Nuclear Test Medal is very fine, and we commend the government for finally agreeing to issue it.
Now after 70 years of waiting, the wait for veterans and their descendants will soon be over, and we urge you and your officials to do all you can to ensure that these medals are made available to veterans for their proud recipients to wear on Remembrance Day this year. I look forward to seeing them at services in my own native Manchester. And it would be fitting too if the first awards of this new medal could whenever possible be made by Our Sovereign, His Majesty King Charles III, whose profile appears on its obverse.
But frankly, Minister, the award of a medal is not enough.
The Secretary of State for Defence, your colleague, The Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP, said, on announcing the award of the Nuclear Test Medal, that he will be delighted to issue the medal to recognise the ‘invaluable contribution’ made by veterans to ‘the safety and security of the UK’.
But in so doing the government appears to have failed to recognise – as I have outlined on page one of this letter – that this ‘invaluable contribution’ has often came at a terrible price.
Consequently, neither the Secretary of State (or indeed, to the best of our knowledge, any Minister of this government) has yet made any promise of compensation for the suffering and chronic ill-health caused to veterans or their children, nor recompense for the wives and families whose husbands and fathers died too young.
The NFLAs believe that the time to do so is long overdue and that it is now.
In the United States, The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was passed in October 1990. It provides a one-off, no-questions-asked payment of $75,000 to any veteran who has participated in a nuclear test who has subsequently developed one of the cancers specified in the legislation, without any requirement being placed on that veteran to prove that his/her medical condition is the result of participating in the test. President Biden has recently extended the deadline to make a claim by two years until 2024. It has paid out over $2.3 billion in benefits to over 36,000 claimants.
Contrast this to the UK where relatively few nuclear veterans have been able to secure a service pension because of the requirement to prove absolutely that there is a causal link between their ill-health and exposure to radiation.
Ironically UK servicemen who participated in Operation Dominic with US Forces are eligible for a payment from the American Government if they developed one of the established conditions, but from the UK Government they automatically receive nothing. Instead, they must go through a long- and uncertain process, and many hoops, to seek a medical pension.
This disparity in treatment seems manifestly unfair.
Even the Isle of Man and Fiji have taken this ‘bull by the horns’ and made a payment to veterans who participated in British atomic and nuclear weapons tests who are resident in their respective islands – if Ministers in the Isle of Man and Fiji can do it then so too can Ministers of the Crown if they truly recognise the ‘invaluable contribution’ of these men.
Nuclear test veterans are getting old. They cannot wait any longer for recompense – the time to do this is now alongside the award of a service medal. Minister, the NFLAs believe it is time to pay up!
We would of course welcome your early response to this letter. Please reply by email to NFLA Secretary richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Thank you. Yours sincerely,
Councillor Tommy Judge,
For the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities
The NFLA published a briefing on nuclear test veterans in October 2022:
https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/briefings/nfla-policy-briefing-251-justice-delayed-britains-atomic-and-nuclear-test-veterans/
US nuclear test veterans can make a claim under RECA if they have any of the following diseases:
The Nuclear Test Medal was announced by the UK Government on 28 July 2023:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-medal-design-unveiled-to-honour-veterans-of-britains-nuclear-tests
Eligible veterans, civilians and next-of-kin can apply for the medal here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/applying-for-medals
