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Before they learned words like dioxin and perchlorate, mothers let sons and daughters play near streams that trickled down from hills that hid some of the government's biggest secrets. Families who settled in neighborhoods blooming in Chatsworth, West Hills and Simi Valley led idyllic lives, even when their bedroom and kitchen windows rattled from the roar of rocket engines being tested at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the Simi Hills. But in May 1989, surveys from the Department of Energy - reported exclusively in the Daily News - revealed that radioactive and toxic contamination from decades of nuclear experiments and rocket tests had leaked into soil, groundwater and bedrock at the hilltop site.

Health care push could help residents of Idaho and Montana gain compensation, they say. WASHINGTON, D.C. - For years, Idaho residents downwind of Cold War-era nuclear weapons testing have fought for recognition. This year, the downwinders believe they'll finally get their opportunity, in the form of federal legislation that could make a federal compensation fund available to residents of Idaho and Montana with cancer attributable to fallout from testing in the 1950s and 1960s. "I think it has a better chance this time than it's had for a long time," said Tona Henderson, an Emmett resident and one of the leading advocates for downwinders in Idaho. "I'm not necessarily a supporter of Barack Obama, but he's bringing up health care and health issues, and I think there are more people in Congress who already are thinking in that vein."

A GROUP of nuclear veterans will launch a class action against the federal government this week seeking compensation for exposure to atomic tests at Maralinga in the 1950s and 1960s. Led by Australian Nuclear Veterans Association national president Ric Johnstone, the group has been buoyed by a ruling last month in Britain's High Court allowing British veterans suffering from ill health to pursue a class action against the Ministry of Defence. Mr Johnstone, a former RAAF mechanic who decontaminated vehicles used at Maralinga during the nuclear testing, told The Australian a team of lawyers was drafting a letter to send to Kevin Rudd and Veterans Affairs Minister Alan Griffin this week. The group will then lodge a statement of claim with the Federal Court seeking undisclosed damages -- likely to be "several million dollars" -- from the federal government.

NUCLEAR test veterans have won their 12-year battle for the right to sue for compensation. Around 1,000 servicemen who blame their ill health on their involvement in Britain's nuclear tests in the '50s want to sue the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Yesterday, at London's High Court, Judge Mr Justice Foskett gave the veterans the green light to proceed with the claims. The veterans, who took part in the programme on the Australia mainland, Monte-Bello islands and Christmas Island between 1952 and 1958, say new scientific evidence has shown links between exposure to ionising radiation and their conditions, which include cancer, skin defects and infertility.

Niigata -- A reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, which was shut down after a major earthquake in 2007, started test operations Saturday. Test operations of the plant's No. 7 reactor, an advanced boiling water reactor with an output of 1.356 million kilowatts, are due to continue for 40 to 50 days. If all goes well, the plant will begin supplying power to the capital region after one week, and start commercial service as early as late June.

Families Against Radiation Exposure recently released soil test results showing that a popular Port Hope beach playground is contaminated with uranium ('Port Hope park safe: Mayor', May 1). The volunteer environmental organization handed out brochures to fishermen and residents at noon at the East Beach park at Mill and Madison Streets. FARE provided the results to Mayor Linda Thompson, but she has not made them public. FARE believes the public, which uses the beach area, has a right to know it is contaminated by uranium more than four times higher than guidelines issued by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME). What is disturbing is the testing was done by SENES Consultants for Cameco Corporation and sent in a report to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) in June, 2008, but nobody told the municipality or the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office (LLRWMO).

French victims of nuclear bomb testing are getting a multimillion-pound payout... while British veterans are still being ignored. This week the French government announced it was "time to be true to its conscience" and revealed a £9million compensation package. In Britain the Ministry of Defence continues to fight claims by veterans who suffer health problems such as cancers, skin conditions, bone disorders and 10 times the normal rate of birth defects in their children. But after more than 40 years of similar denials, the authorities in France have agreed to pay out to veterans and civilians who fell ill following tests in the Pacific.

Big heads, bulging eyes, twisted hands that don't reach their mouths and bent legs that can barely support their frail frames. Intrigued by these abnormalities among children in a pocket of Faridkot, visiting South African toxicologist Dr Carin Smit had their hair samples sent to a German laboratory. The results, which have just come in, are shocking: the deformities were caused by alarmingly high levels of uranium. ''The test results have left us baffled as there's no apparent source of uranium in Punjab,'' said Prithpal Singh, head of Baba Farid Centre for Special Children in Faridkot. More tests are now being organized among the 150 affected children with the help of a team of German and South African doctors to establish whether the traces found are from depleted uranium or natural sources.

Central Asia became the fifth nuclear-weapon-free zone in the world Saturday, drawing praise from the head of the United Nations. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan all ratified the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, which establishes a region-wide prohibition on research, testing or possession of nuclear weapons. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the ratification and entry into force of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty Saturday as a step forward for the region's compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the United Nations reported.

Japan says it is deploying missile interceptors to destroy any parts of a North Korean rocket that might fall on its territory. North Korea has said it will launch a satellite into orbit next month. South Korea, Japan and the US say the launch is cover for a test of the Taepodong-2 ballistic missile. The US said a launch would violate UN Security Council resolutions. Russia said North Korea should "abstain" from testing any missiles.

"French anti-nuclear campaigners claim a new power plant being built in Normandy carries an accident risk of "Chernobyl proportions". Sortir du Nucléaire, a protest network, says leaked confidential documents show that tests on the third-generation pressurised water reactor present a potentially catastrophic scenario. The network has eight internal papers showing the results of tests on the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) that, it claims, reveal defects in the mechanism that controls the nuclear reaction. These defects, it says, could cause an explosion sending a massive cloud of radiation into the atmosphere."

"A French senator representing French Polynesia has labelled the French law to compensate victims of the nuclear weapons tests as an alibi for the government to give it a good conscience. Richard Tuheiava made the comment in Algeria where a meeting is being held to discuss the aftermath of the French weapons tests which began in the Algerian desert before being continued in the South Pacific."

"THE Ministry of Defence has put a blanket ban on turbines being built within 31 miles of a nuclear test monitoring station, The Scotsman has learned. The decision by the MoD could scupper plans for major wind farms in the Borders, as well as making it impossible for individuals to put turbines up at their homes and farms. The Eskdalemuir seismological recording station, between Moffat and Hawick in the Borders, is used to monitor underground nuclear testing across the world. "

"ONE of Australia's most respected military figures has joined veterans' groups in calling for war benefits to be paid to Australian servicemen who were exposed to British atom bomb tests in the 1950s. The retired major-general, Alan Stretton, who led the reconstruction of Darwin after Cyclone Tracy and commanded Australia's troops in Vietnam, said a declaration stating the tests constituted "non-warlike, hazardous" operations would give former servicemen and their widows access to the same entitlements as other war veterans."

Investigation into why Darlington workers were filling wrong tank CLARINGTON -- Workers at the Darlington nuclear station filled the wrong tank with a cocktail of water and a radioactive isotope Monday, spilling more than 200,000 litres into Lake Ontario. Ontario Power Generation is investigating how the accident happened and officials say hourly tests of the lake water show that the level of tritium - the radioactive isotope of hydrogen - poses no harm to nearby residents.

Investigation into why Darlington workers were filling wrong tank CLARINGTON -- Workers at the Darlington nuclear station filled the wrong tank with a cocktail of water and a radioactive isotope Monday, spilling more than 200,000 litres into Lake Ontario. Ontario Power Generation is investigating how the accident happened and officials say hourly tests of the lake water show that the level of tritium - the radioactive isotope of hydrogen - poses no harm to nearby residents.

"The barrister wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair will represent a group of Australian Aborigines suing the British government over nuclear testing on their land, a report said Saturday. Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement spokesman Neil Gillespie said Cherie Blair had been engaged by a group from Emu Field, in Australia's red desert centre, who are seeking compensation over 1953 atomic tests by Britain. Five cases had been lodged in the British courts over illnesses allegedly linked to the fallout from two nuclear weapons exploded in the Great Victoria Desert in October 1953."

"Gov. Gary Herbert has asked for independent sampling of the first shipment of depleted uranium that has arrived at EnergySolutions' Clive facility in Tooele County. Amanda Smith, executive director of the state Department of Environmental Quality, briefed members of the Radiation Control Board on the issue Tuesday, adding that the department will contract with a third party for the independent testing. Some sampling of the material already has been conducted, but the results are not yet in, and staff members have been on site to observe the off-loading of the radioactive material, which is classified as low-level Class A waste."

"Officials say poor welding work and pin-hole leaks are keeping one of the San Onofre's nuclear reactors from returning to service. That's not the only safety issue the plant has recently faced. Plant officials told our media partner The North County Times that the reactor's leak problems have now been repaired. Unfortunately, they have delayed the reactor from returning to service by about three weeks. And in an unrelated incident, a report surfaced this week that plant officials waited more than two weeks before reporting a minor safety issue to federal regulators. "

"BHP Billiton says it will step up security at an old uranium testing site in Kalgoorlie after concerns children are accessing the area. Labor's candidate for the federal seat of O'Connor, Ian Bishop, says damage to a security gate has allowed children to enter the site at Hannan's north on dirt bikes. More than 5,000 tonnes of tailings from the Yeelirrie uranium deposit, near Wiluna, were buried in the area after BHP stopped testing ore-processing there in the 1980s."

"The U.S. Justice Department announced today that it has launched an "intensive outreach effort" in the Four Corners area to Native Americans and their families whose work in the uranium industry during the Cold War benefitted the United States but exposed them to radiation. Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a news release that workers and their families may be entitled to compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). Under the act, people in the following categories may receive payments: uranium miners, millers and ore transporters; people who were present at nuclear weapons test sites; and people who lived in certain areas "downwind" of the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. In the latest outreach in the Four Corners area - Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona - the Justice Department has developed an internship program using part-time college and graduate students recruited from tribal communities."