nuclear-news

A legal precedent – UK court verdict on nuclear radiation caused fatal condition of UK nuclear veteran

Forgotten victims of Britain’s nuclear tests on Christmas Island No compensation for British servicemen exposed to nuclear explosions around Australia and the Pacific in the 1950s and ’60s Telegraph UK  By Jake Wallis Simons  02 Feb 2014 “……..In 2012, the clearest such verdict was passed by the Derby and South Derbyshire coroner, who was ruling on the death of Derek Heaps, a former Royal Engineer.

“At post mortem, it was established that Derek Frank Heaps’s underlying fatal conditions were of a type which can be caused by exposure to high levels of ionising radiation,” the verdict said.

Derek Frank Heaps both visited Malden Island [another testing site in the Pacific] the day after an atom bomb had been exploded over it, and witnessed a further testing of an atom bomb from an airborne aircraft.”

Nigel Heaps is his son and the chairman of the BNTVA. “My dad was very proud that we developed a nuclear deterrent that ensured peace,” he says. “He felt severely let down when the nation wouldn’t actually step up.

“As the son of a nuclear veteran, there’s always that pressure hanging there. Am I gradually falling apart from the inside? And what will happen to my kids?”

According to some estimates, genetic mutation can persist for as many as 20 generations. As the number of nuclear veterans decreases, their children and grandchildren bear the greater burden of the sacrifice that they made for their country.

This is a problem that is not going away. And many feel that it is high time that the Government addressed it…….http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/defence/10611985/Forgotten-victims-of-Britains-nuclear-tests-on-Christmas-Island.html

February 3, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized