Group items tagged

"A NUCLEAR test veteran has described how he believes his battle for compensation from the Government may not be won in his lifetime. Former RAF serviceman Archie Ross, of Oak Close, Castle GresleyArchie Ross, of Oak Close, Castle Gresley, made the claim as an appeal by the Ministry of Defence, against a decision to allow compensation for more than 1,000 servicemen, continues. Mr Ross claims that exposure to radiation in 1950s nuclear tests, during his time as an RAF serviceman on Christmas Island, near Australia, has had a devastating effect on his health, his daughters and his grandson. But the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has rejected allegations of negligence and countered by saying that the claims for compensation are now out of date."

"Issue #156 - July 2010 The Sunflower is a monthly e-newsletter providing educational information on nuclear weapons abolition and other issues relating to global security. Help us spread the word and forward this to a friend. Visit www.wagingpeace.org/donate to help sustain this valuable resource by making a donation. To receive our free monthly e-newsletter subscribe at www.wagingpeace.org/subscribe * Perspectives o British Petroleum, Imagination and Nuclear Catastrophe by David Krieger o Nuclear Deterrence Scam Blocking Progress to a Safer World by Commander Robert Green * US Nuclear Weapons Policy o US and Japan Reaffirm Nuclear Pact * Nuclear Disarmament o US Conference of Mayors Calls for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons * Nuclear Proliferation o China Bends International Rules to Sell Reactors to Pakistan o Myanmar May Have a Nuclear Program * Nuclear Labs o Plans for New Kansas City Nuclear Plant Move Forward * Nuclear Testing o US Tests Nuclear-Capable Missiles o Russia to Strengthen Nuclear Testing Capabilities * Nuclear Energy and Waste o Australian Union Bans Nuclear Work o Nature Preserve on Uranium Enrichment Site * War and Peace o Israel Stations Nuclear Subs Near Iran * Iraq War o US Opposes Effort to Include Aggression as a Crime * Resources o ICAN Report on the NPT Review Conference o 2010 Global Peace Index * Foundation Activities o Waging Peace Today: New NAPF Blog o Sadako Peace Day Commemoration: August 6 o NAPF Internship Program"

"French Polynesia's nuclear test veterans organisation is dismayed at the final shape of the French compensation law, saying it fears that it is too restrictive. The head of Moruroa e tatou, Roland Oldham, says too few cancers are being linked to the tests and the zone recognised for radiation-related poor health is too small. Mr Oldham says the provisions as outlined in the decree released last weekend fail to address the impact of the tests and will be challenged. "We can put another court case, probably in the European Court of Human Rights, and theother hand we do think that the Polynesian people are motivated to keep struggling.""

More than 40,000 people were exposed to radioactive fallout in Southern Utah from 1951 to 1958 and July of 1962 during nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site. The RESEP clinic at Dixie Regional exists to aid those individuals who were exposed to the testing, as well as those who worked in the uranium industry. The RESEP clinic also helps eligible individuals receive compensation from the government through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Over the last 15 months, Dixie Regional's RESEP clinic has given out RECA information to more than 2,000 people, helped more than 750 people with their RECA claims and more than 114 people have received compensation through RECA.

New scientific evidence made the link between participation in Britain's 1950s nuclear tests and ill-health and established the case for compensation, the High Court heard today. Benjamin Browne QC, speaking for around 1,000 servicemen who took part in the programme in the South Pacific, said that the Government had satisfied itself as to the validity of the Rowland study of a small group of New Zealand test veterans, which proved that most if not all of them suffered genetic effects due to radiation exposure.

A Welsh Labour politician has added his voice for thousands of ex-servicemen involved in Britain's nuclear tests in the 1950s to receive compensation. Thousands suffered serious ill health, believed to be linked to radiation exposure during the tests. A legal challenge is under way after defence chiefs told veterans they were out of time to claim for compensation.

The New Mexico Environment Department will hold a water fair to test well water from private wells only in the San Mateo Basin from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Cibola County Building, 515 High St. in Grants. All present and future owners and users of private wells that are within the advisory area are advised to sample their wells to ensure the quality of well water does not pose health concerns. Water from public drinking water systems will not be tested because those supplies are routinely tested and deemed to be safe pursuant to the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 will hold a community meeting 6-8 p.m., the same day, also at the Cibola County Building.

On October 5, 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act ("RECA" or "the Act"), 42 U.S.C. § 2210 note, providing for compassionate payments to individuals who contracted certain cancers and other serious diseases as a result of their exposure to radiation released during above-ground nuclear weapons tests or as a result of their exposure to radiation during employment in underground uranium mines. The 1990 Act provided fixed payments in the following amounts: $50,000 to individuals residing or working "downwind" of The Nevada Test Site; $75,000 for workers participating in above-ground nuclear weapons tests; and $100,000 for uranium miners.

Goliad County will get some financial help to test groundwater before uranium exploration advances. Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance announced Tuesday that it granted $5,000 to the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District for testing 11 domestic and livestock wells in areas of proposed uranium exploration or mining.

Radiation levels at Santa Susana questioned While certain that a streak of white substance found in the hillsides of a Runkle Canyon site is not a contaminant, the Department of Toxic Substances Control says it needs more testing to explain the variation in radiation levels found at the Simi Valley site since 1998. Runkle Canyon, near a former rocket engine test site known as the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, has been the subject of controversy over possible ground contamination.

Veterans of Britain's nuclear bomb tests have claimed a "massive breakthrough" in their fight for recognition. Survivors of the tests are hopeful of victory after a six-year campaign for justice by the Sunday Mirror. Vets met with MPs and Defence Minister Kevan Jones last week and were promised an announcement on new medical research soon. Children and grandchildren of the 20,000 servicemen ordered to watch nuclear explosions will be asked to take part in the first major scientific study of its kind.

Collectively, they're known as atomic veterans. Hundreds of thousands of military personnel participated in bomb tests between 1945 and 1962, the period in which the United States conducted atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons. These include the U.S. occupation forces at Hiroshima and Nagasaki soon after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan at the close of World War II.

* Admission servicemen exposed to nuclear danger * Defence belives bomb tests led to deaths * Australian victims preparing to sue government BRITISH Defence chiefs have admitted servicemen were exposed to dangerous radiation levels during nuclear tests in Australia and the South Pacific in the 1950s. The dramatic admission, made after years of denials, features in papers filed with the High Court in London by Ministry of Defence lawyers.

Deep inside the Swiss Alps, scientists from around the world are testing how to dispose of radioactive material. The Grimsel Test Site is a series of tunnels dug deep into the mountains. It's operated by the National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (NAGRA). The cooperative was started in 1972 by nuclear power plant operators and the Swiss government. World Radio Switzerland's Alex Helmick reports from the underground laboratory near the Grimsel Pass on the cantonal border of Bern and Valais.

To prove he is sick enough to deserve the federal compensation promised to former uranium miners such as himself, 86-year-old Ross Williams must take a lung-function test. The problem is, Williams and some others like him are too sick to complete the required test. With measured breath, he explains in his native Navajo language what has happened each time he has tried to take it.

Our immediate attention focuses on ending sub-critical tests and other war-making preparations at the Nevada Test Site and preventing the return of full scale nuclear testing.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and two Idaho congressmen are calling for hearings into whether a program to compensate downwind cancer victims of atomic bomb tests in the 1950s and '60s should be expanded to include more areas - including several counties in Utah and Idaho. "Eligibility for compensation is limited to certain counties in just a few states. These geographical boundaries are, quite frankly, arbitrary boundaries that do not account for the fact that radioactive fallout does not abide by lines on a map," Matheson and Reps. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, wrote to House Judiciary Committee leaders. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act currently applies to residents who lived in 21 counties, including 10 in Utah - mostly in southern Utah nearest to the Nevada Test Site. However, the Deseret News obtained fallout maps in past years showing its path went through Salt Lake County and parts of eastern Utah for some tests.

Barely a week after an Indian atomic scientist raised a major controversy by claiming that the country's nuclear tests in Pokhran in 1998 were not "as successful as claimed", a couple of other top Indian scientists have also added fuel to the fire by calling for further tests to establish India as a true nuke power. Experts say that the claims of atomic scientist K. Santhanam, who was associated with the Pokhran nuclear tests, and P.K. Iyengar, the former head of India's main nuclear body Atomic Energy Commission, have only stirred up doubts about India's nuclear capability not only in the "volatile" South Asian region but also in the world arena.

Americans may be receiving too much radiation from medical tests whose value has not been proven, researchers reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine. More than two-thirds of Americans underwent at least one such imaging procedure in the three years covered by the study, reported Dr. Reza Fazel of the Emory University School of Medicine and colleagues. The two biggest contributors to the radiation exposure are CT scans, which use a series of X-rays to produce a three-dimensional image of the body, and heart perfusion scanning to measure blood flow through the arteries leading to the heart. In that test, radioactive technetium-99m is injected into blood vessels and its progress through the heart monitored with external radiation detectors.

The tragic legacy of Britain's nuclear testing at Maralinga in the South Australian outback is now a well-documented chapter in the nation's history. But for the Aboriginal people whose land was used for the tests, there is a feeling that their voice has not been heard. Now a group of women from remote communities in South Australia's far west coast have written and illustrated their story for the first time. Transcript KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: Thanks to the efforts of a Royal Commission, the tragic legacy of Britain's nuclear testing at Maralinga in the South Australian outback is now a well documented chapter in the nation's history.