Fissionline 69

Issue 69

The International Bulletin of Atomic Matters July 2023

FISSIONLINE Trinity

July 16, 1945

The Dawn of the Nuclear Age

This cover photograph,is the only existing color shot of theTrinity test. It was taken by an amateur using his own camera Jack Aeby,was working at Trinity with Emilio Segrè studying delayed gamma rays. Segrè secured permission for Aeby to carry his camera to the site to record the group's activities Came the test and, as Aeby says, 'it was there so I shot it.' The picture was taken from just outside Base Camp with a Perfex 33 camera using 33 mm film The photograph provided the basis for the Theoretical Division's earliest calculations of the Trinity weapon's yield and was shortly confiscated by the Army and first published after the announcement was made of the bombing of Japan.

Ding Dong Over Boris Gong

Pg 3

ON OTHER PAGES

Pg 9: Oppenheimer: No Room for Brits

Pg 11: Penney's Blue

Plaque Poser

Pg 14: A Pleasant

Way to Die

Pg 16: Village of the Damned

FISSIONLINE

The clamour over the Nuclear Test Medal, forever to be known as the BORIS GONG, has reached hysterical proportions.

Obscure Labour MPS are lining up in Parliament to demand it be struck NOW! Those who purport to represent the nuclear veterans are threatening some sort of protest at the Remembrance day celebrations if they don't get the medal NOW!

Meanwhile the Daily Mirror has launched a petition to whip up support to force the MoD to provide the medal NOW!

What is it about these people? They've got their medal, even though it is admittedly from the lower echelons of medallic honours.

As far as we know the first and only person to suggest a medal for Britain's nuclear veterans was the Duke of Edinburgh.

On a visit to Christmas Island in 1959 he turned to his honour guard and, referring to the primitive conditions they lived in, said: "You all deserve a medal for being here "

In forty years of talking to nuclear veterans since we have never come across a single case where the interviewee expressed a desire for a medal.

It seems we have been talking to the wrong veterans.

If recent Daily Mirror reports are anything to go by there is a positive clamour for a medal out there.

Every veteran it speaks to these days seems desperate to get their hands on one, and the newspaper is expending a lot of energy and newsprint on their behalf

It reported "gasps" of astonishment when a Labour MP spoke about it in Parliament

And "gasp" an invitation to Downing Street to talk about a medal was treated as though the newspaper was entering the portals of Valhalla, the mythical Norse paradise of warriors. That may be all very well, but the fact remains the award of a medal will not advance the cause of the nuclear veterans or their children one jot.

In fact as Ken McGinley, their iconic founder pointed out, it would only serve to give the authorities a chance to close down the nuclear veterans fight for justice once and for all.

Is that really Mirror wants? Perhaps it thinks that by "winning" a medal for the veterans, it will be able to close down its own campaign. We sincerely hope that is not the case. What a pitiable end that would be! Forty years of pain, suffering, strife and torment for a shiny bit of metal pinned to the breasts of the very few nuclear veterans surviving

Is this what the mighty Daily Mirror, the soldier's newspaper, heir to Cassandra, Marje Proops, Paul Foot, John Pilger and others, has been reduced to?

Begging Boris Johnson for a medal! The Mirror needs to up its game.

It needs to use all that investigative talent it is rightly famous for to get to the real truth.

Expose the scientists and their current cheerleaders who knew that troops would be hit by fallout

Expose the doctors and their well-funded contemporaries who continue to cover-up the terrible health consequences

Expose the lying, cheating politicians who continue to hide behind the spurious evidence of their academic placemen

Surely the Mirror with all its resources could mount a new campaign, an investigation that would have real teeth? One that would have the Ministry of Defence diving for cover, doctors and scientists cowering under their desks, and politicians quaking in their boots?

In the best traditions of journalism, the Daily Mirror should drag them all out kicking and screaming into the harsh light of truth to face the consequences

Such an action would be greeted with universal acclaim and maybe, just maybe it could restore the Daily Mirror's historic role as a true champion of the ordinary people of this country.

A big thank you for all your messages of support and offers of help following our last edition Your kind and thoughtful comments are a great help. Articles should be addressecd to fissionline@gmail.com

Nuclear Test Medal farce as "terrified" MOD delays Boris's Gong

The award of the much anticipated medallic recognition for Britain's nuclear veterans descended into farce as Ministry of Defence officials were said to be "terrified that disgraced ex-PM Boris Johnson might grab all the headlines.

Things began to go haywire after Fissionline exclusively revealed the design of the "Nuclear Test Medal"(pictured right,) well ahead of the planned unveiling in late summer

The scoop sparked a flurry of teethgnashing MPs involved in campaigning for the medal asking questions in Parliament about when the medal was going to be delivered

As the pressure grew, Defence Ministers, who had promised the medal by "late Summer", rowed back on that promise saying they hoped to make it available "by the Autumn."

Junior Defence Minister Andrew Murrison caused fresh outrage when, in answer to an exasperated question about the delay from Labour's Rebecca Long-Baily, suggested the medal wouldn't be

available until November 22, a full year since the award was announced.

Furious campaigners, who wanted to showcase the medal at the Remembrance Day Memorial celebrations on November 11, have now threatened Ministers with almost Just Stop Oiltype demonstrations if the medal is not delivered before then

Campaigners warned of "protests at the Cenotaph" unless the medal was issued on time.

No official explanation has been given for the delay, but a source told Fissionline that the Office of Veterans Affairs Minister Johnny Mercer was "hopping up and down", adding:"This medal was one of Boris Johnson's last acts before resigning The Ministry of Defence are terrified that this will put him back in the spotlight "

THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF PLUTONIUM

Scientists are about to declare a new geological time period: the Age of Plutonium.

Or to be more accurate, the Anthropocine Era. The date they have chosen coincides with the appearance of plutonium, a man-made radioactive element, on the earth.

And although they haven't named the exact date yet, the odds-on favourite for this dubious distinction is July 16, 1945...the date of the first atomic bomb blast, codenamed Trinity, at Alamogordo in New Mexico

Hioroshima and Nagasaki quickly followed and then for decades the great powers, including Britain, detonated huge numbers of nuclear weapons as they perfected their death-dealing armories.

The tests, in remote areas, sent enormous plumes of radiation into the atmosphere showering down microcopic particles of plutonium until today there is not a corner of the planet that isn't polluted by this deadliest of substances

Now, because plutonium is man-made, scientists have been able to pronounce our era of existence the Anthropocene, or 'The Time of Humans ' The Anthropocine Working Group (AWG) say the start date for this era is the 1950s which they say is a time in Earth's history when human activity began to influence every facet of our lives.

Scientists from Brock University in Canada have identified a surge in human activity resulting in radioactive dust, plastic and other harmful substances after examining mud deposits in Crawford Lake, Canada

Professor Francine McCarthy, a micropaleontologist, said Crawford Lake was chosen as scientists found markers in the lake bed mud after boreholes were cut. These showed changes caused by humans to the

planet's climate and chemistry spelling the start of the Anthropocine

Professor Andrew Cundy, an expert in environmental radiochemistry at Southampton University said the detonation of the Trinity device on July 16, 1945 arguably marked the start of this new age.

He said: "Subsequent nuclear detonations, as part of the Cold War arms race, globally distributed a suite of radioactive fallout products which have been captured in the Earth’s sediments, soils, ice, and biological constructions such as corals, trees, and skeletons.

"This process has fingerprinted the mid-twentieth century and provides a global, almost synchronous marker in the Earth’s geological materials."

He revealed: "The long half-lives of a number of these fallout products will allow their detection well into our planet’s future, and they provide a clear radiometric marker that coincides with the proposed start of the Great Acceleration, and the Anthropocene "

Prof Cundy said that later atomic detonations used more powerful (higher yield) fission-fusion or fission-fusion-fission devices H-bombs which used a fission explosion to produce the intense pressures and temperatures required to fuse hydrogen nuclei in a fusion reaction

This fusion reaction is capable of releasing vastly more energy (and explosive power) than the equivalent fission reaction, and importantly, atmospheric detonation of these more powerful devices is capable of blasting radioactive and irradiated material high into the atmosphere, from where it can be hemispherically or globally distributed before returning to the earth

The Anthropocine Era will be officially announced probably later this year after more investigations.

Nuclear Matters

Ukraine is reportedly “preparing for a nuclear explosion” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, heightening tensions in the wake of Russia’s first overnight drone attack on Kyiv in weeks

Worries over a potential blast have prompted training to prepare residents for what might occur, according to Kira Rudik, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament.

“I still cannot process that in the 21st century, this is what is happening We are preparing for a nuclear explosion and the whole world is watching and there is nothing that can be done,” Rudik told Sky News. It is “unprecedented” that Russia has not allowed UN officials into the power plant to carry out checks, according to Rudik, who noted Ukrainian officials called several times to make the plant a neutral zone, but “Russia never agreed to that ” Russian troops were ordered to leave the power plant which has been under Russian control since March 2022 by July 5, according to the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.

The latest data indicates that the occupying forces are gradually leaving the plant Three employees of Rosatom, who led the Russians’ actions, were among the first to leave the facility Rosatom is a Russian state corporation specializing in nuclear energy.

“His next of kin have been informed and have been offered support. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time

“At the moment the death is being treated as unexplained and an investigation is currently ongoing alongside the ONR to understand the circumstances, in line with the national work related deaths protocol.”

The ONR added: “As this is a live investigation, we will not be commenting further so as not to prejudice those inquiries.

“The incident did not involve any nuclear materials and there are no radiological consequences to the public.”

*

Labour peer Lord Watson of Wyre Forest has written to the Prime Minister asking him to correct Ministry of Defence claims in Parliament that it does not hold the blood data, according to the Daily Mirror

"Given the series of misleading statements, broken promises, and unwarranted delays, the onus rests upon the PM to rectify this matter," Lord Watson said

"Boris Johnson demonstrated his unwavering dedication to honouring the service of these important veterans and there is an expectation that Rishi Sunak will continue where he left off."

Lord Watson added: "It is an affront to expect elderly veterans to navigate the labyrinthine corridors of the MoD, merely to ascertain partial truths "

A man has died in an incident at AWE Aldermaston, the government's nuclear bomb factory in Oxfordshire

The Office for Nuclear Regulation has confirmed a worker – a 57-year-old man – died in a “serious construction incident” at the site in early July It said the incident did not involve any nuclear materials, but Thames Valley Police confirmed the death was being treated as 'unexplained.'

The ONR confirmed its staff are working alongside other relevant authorities, including Thames Valley Police, which is currently leading the investigations on site

A TVP spokesperson said: “Officers were called to AWE Aldermaston on the evening of July 6 following reports of an industrial incident

“A 57-year-old man was transported to hospital, where he sadly died.

The newspaper claims that veterans' service records appear to have had health data, including bood samples which may have showed radiation damage during their time at the weapons tests, removed from the files.

*

The European Union has lifted restrictions on Japanese food imports imposed after the meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

The move comes ahead of plans to start pumping wastewater from the facility back into the Pacific Ocean

China and other countries, however, have threatened to further restrict Japanese seafood imports if the water discharge goes ahead

The EU announcement came after talks at a summit in Brussels between the European Council president, Charles Michel, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida.

From the desk of Ken McGinley

President of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans' Association

Here's me with my old pal (now sadly deceased) actor Tony Booth, father of Cherie Blair, the former PM Tony Blair's wife

The picture was taken about 15 years ago, and as you can see we got along famously. Tony was always great company and I loved his Scouse humour

I first met him under very sad circumstances when his wife, the Coronation Stret legend Pat Phoenix, who played Elsie Tanner, was dying from cancer in Manchester. Tony was at her bedside almost constantly as Pat faded away. I travelled down from Scotland to see Pat for the last time. She was a wonderful woman and a great supporter of us veterans. She became our d f k b h lf

the shared hallways between 10 and 11 Downing Street. Brown wouldn't allow the Blairs to have the same carpet According to Blair, Brown tried to humiliate him in other ways, like by making sure he and Cherie were put behind a pillar at the funeral of their old mentor John Smith

It really was petty the way they treated each other. But I don't have much sympathy for either of them When they needed the nuclear veterans in the 1980s they both pledged to give us justice, but as soon as they got into power, they both reneged.

I don't know what power the Ministry of f e had over them, but they seem to know how to clip the politicians' wings. And I certainly don't have much hope for the Starmer administration if it, as predicted, takes power next year.

Tony told me that Pat often berated him about Tony Blair's dcision not to support the nuclear veterans, despite promises to do so when he was in Opposition. But Blair always said there was nothing he could do because the Ministry of Defence had him by the 'short and curlies!'

Tony Booth had remarried by the time this picture was taken and Gordon Brown had taken over as Prime Minister And that's another story I was a shocked to learn about the total animosity between Brown and Blair. Tony revealed that they couldn't stand each other and the petty squabbles they had in Downing Street shocked everyone.

Tony said they even argued about the carpet in

A big thank you to everyone who has contacted me with offers of support and help. Many are outraged about what has been happening in the BNTVA and ask what they can do to help Well all I can say is carry on and keep the faith! By that I mean never forget the reasons why this organisation was formed in the first place: to achieve justice. Justice for the men who died in agony because our government wanted the H-Bomb and would stop at nothing to get it. And justice for our children, grandchildren and those yet to be born who will forever be cursed by the genetic effects of fallout. Too many of my compatriots and their children have settled for a shoddy compromise of charity cash and a medal A stairlift and a freebie at Pontins is not my idea of the Promised Land.

One final word: Join me in wishing Ceri Marsh and Michelle Harding in their new venture BREACHED. They are amazing women and deserve every success

The enemy within is destroying Britain's nuclear test Veterans'

An excoriating blast from one of Britain's very few surviving witnesses to the five nuclear bomb tests on Christmas Island in 1958

By Haldane Isaksen

Following events in the BNTVA recently it behoves us Nuclear Test Veterans to add our voice.

To say that the whole sordid affair was disgusting is something of an understatement. The treatment and vilification of one individual was absolutely beyond anything any decent human being would even contemplate.

I am a Veteran, one of the thousand or so who shipped out on the HMT Dunera, and spent almost the whole of 1958 on Christmas Island (Kiritimati) witnessing five detonations in that time

In 1983 the BNTVA was founded thanks to Nuclear Veteran Ken McGinley who was becoming aware of major health problems in some of his colleagues, who also had served, and realised that these problems were probably directly attributable to exposure to nuclear radiation from the tests

Thereupon the mission began to seek recognition and compensation.

A fellow Veteran claimed that we were the only British military unit ever to have been intentionally bombed by our own side. Proof has it that we were used as ‘guinea pigs’ This did not make us special ... but it did make us unique! The mission statement simply became ‘All we seek is justice!’

With a total of 22,000+ personnel involved, many, if not most of us, National Servicemen, were a disparate group drawn from all quarters of Britain.

Communication and cohesion were to prove major problems when it came to setting up the Association. Disagreements were manifold which led to much internal wrangling and,

unfortunately, resulted in the law intervening on occasion. Nevertheless, members remained resolute and the focus stayed the same ...‘Recognition and Justice for those affected’.

Eventually, and with the expectation (and promises!) of a brighter more settled future for the Association and its aims, the membership opted for charitable status

That vote has seemingly sounded the death knell of the BNTVA as we knew it and of those aims Gradually we came to realise that the power and the voice of the membership were being largely ignored and slowly being eroded as a consequence

Many of us protested and, simply to silence us, both the late Trevor Butler and I were expelled from the Association When we first made public that we intended to attend the AGM that year and ask for answers to some very pertinent questions we were informed that we would be refused entry and the police would be called if we showed up.

So much for scrutiny. My observations and accusations were met with the threat of a libel action which, when challenged, was quietly dropped. I wonder why?

We would certainly have welcomed ‘Exposure’ back then!

Rumours spread that there was collusion to bring about the decline of the BNTVA – and they were not from this source, either!

We had been nothing but a big thorn in the side of the Ministry of Denial for too long and it comes as no surprise to learn, thanks to fissionline, that the BNTVA had already been infiltrated whilst still in its infancy

Then, quite unexpectedly, we learned that the British government was to donate big money to

the charity, and not direct to Veterans, and we also discovered that a company had already been set up to administer this cash well in advance of any acknowledgement to the members. All nations involved in nuclear testing have awarded compensation directly to their personnel involved, all except this one. That money, that compensation, that the BNTVA membership had sweated long and hard for went to another charity set up to administer it

Veterans and OUR aims? Too many of them have absolutely no understanding, that much has become very apparent. Let me tell them that they have done us no favours whatsoever and, furthermore, they have betrayed us! I am aware that these positions are voluntary and I do know what it is to get brickbats when you deserve plaudits, I’ve been there, but at one time we were active with legal action and also had regular and rewarding contact with comrades overseas who served alongside us

sense of its uniqueness or its position in history. It is to be hoped that when the gongs are strutted around some modicum of thought is given to those men who served, who did their duty and whose only award was that of fatal doses of radiation: men whose inheritance was snatched away and whose memory has been blemished

Meanwhile, back at the real BNTVA how, exactly, have THEY benefitted US the Veterans that they purport to represent? In too many instances it’s been all about them. They come, they go! The penultimate Board became known as the ‘Hokey Kokeys’ – in, out, in, out, ‘can’t have it my way and so I’m off’.

Fighting like RATS in a sack. In all this time did anyone give a single thought to the actual

In conclusion I say this:- Our legacy will be that we served,we did our duty and in return ‘All we sought was Justice’. Your legacy will be not what you did FOR us but what you did TO us! This year is the fortieth anniversary of the Association and we should have been celebrating a victory Instead, we have become not victors but victims

Harmed by our own side once again It appears that there is no Justice! And can anyone tell me exactly, what is the purpose of the BNTVA these days and what is its future aim? More of the same?

Nuclear Veteran Spr H. A. Isaksen 38 CER Royal Engineers

The original BNTVA banner

Art imitating life: No room for Brits in Hollywood blockbuster

OPPENHEIMER, the muchanticipated $100 million Hollywood blockbuster, about the scientific genius who headed the Manhattan Project, is set to hit the cinema screens on July 21. But as in real life, the Americans are making sure that the British contribution to the building of the atomic bomb doesn't even get a bit part. For the first time in almost 80 years a new audience will be introduced to the momentous events of August, 1945 that proved the most decisive in the history of humankind

By Alan Rimmer

Canadians

A weapon culled from the pages of Flash Gordon and Dan Dare exploded in the earthshattering events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki culminating in the ending of World War II. They combined to leave the world breathless and jubilant at the same time. A new world of awe and wonder, a world full of limitless possibilities, had opened up. This new bomb, that could destroy whole cities in the blink of an eye had seemingly brought about a new world order, one in which America stood at the pinnacle of human endeavour And standing shoulder and shoulder with this mighty new giant was Britain and Canada whose endeavours were widely recognised as being on equal terms with it. President Truman was even said to be toying with the idea of calling it the ABC bomb to recognise the American, British, Canadian effort and cementing the 'special relationship' forged by Roosevelt and Churchill.

This, however, was a short-lived notion. The Anglophobe General Leslie Groves, the man in charge of the Manhattan Project, saw to that He commissioned a report into the making of the atomic bomb which all but rediculed the British effort

It's author, Princeton physics professor Henry D Smyth produced the semi-technical report without consultations with the British or the

The "Smyth Report" , or to give it its proper title: Atomic Energy for Military Purposes was rushed into print and soon became a bestseller. To the dismay of the British the report gave the clear impression that the development of the atomic bomb had been primarily an American enterprise. To counter this misconception, the UK government quickly rushed out its own version of events in a 40-page pamphlet, Statements Relating to the Atomic Bomb, which the Americans reluctantly inserted into their own version as an appendix But it made very little difference: Hollywood became involved and its hastily shot 1946 film version of the atomic story The Beginning of the End left audiences in no doubt that almost all of th i i i h d b A i

Despite protests, American scholars continued to downplay the Brtish efforts. James Phinney Baxter III's Scientists Against Time, which won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize in History, praised the British scientists for their accomplishments in the creation of radar and other areas of technical expertise

But when it came to the atomic bomb, he concentrated almost exclusively on American effort

In 1949 Gerneral Groves downplayed the British role even further in a scathing statement arguing against sharing atomic secrets with the UK: "I cannot recall any direct British contribution to our success in achieving the bomb." And when he wrote his memoirs in 1962, Now It Can Be Told, Groves termed the British contribution "helpful but not vital."

But perhaps the most damning criticism appeared in the US Government's official 35 volume Off History of the Manhattan Project, written in 1946/47. This assessment, kept secret until 1977, stated that the British scientists involved were of "moderate attainments" and that they crossed the Atlantic primarily to obtain nuclear information from the Americans The British effort, the report concluded, "was in no sense vital and actually not even important. To evaluate it quantitively at one per cent total would be to overestimate it. The technical and and engineering contribution was practically nil. Certainly it is true that without any contribution at all from the British, the date of our final success need not have been delayed by a single day " Historians since have blasted these statements as "absurd." Distinguished academic Margaret Gowing said that had the members of the British Mission at Los Aloamos not done what they did when they did it, the atomic bomb would not have been available to end the

war in August 1945

Of course the programme to build an atomic weapon could not have been achieved without American industrial muscle. It was, after all, the biggest organised effort since the pyramids and the cost was far beyond what Britain could afford.

It employed over 200,000 workers and cost a bill largely stood by the Americans And there is no doubt that it could never have been built in the time that it was without the burly bulldozing driving force of General Leslie Groves or the elegant, slight figure of J Robert Oppenheimer, the genius who kept all the intricate parts of the atomic bomb within his head. Boy', the Hiroshima bomb, and 'Fat Man', the Nagasaki weapon, were named after Presendent Roosevelt nd Winston Churchill But you only have to ook at the pictures of Groves and Oppenheimer standing ogeher to realise that he two weapons were amed after them. They certainly deserve heir places in history nd Hollywood's ionisation of their chievements is nderstandable

We wait to see if the British effort is featured in the film On past form it seems doubtful But it should never be forgotten that without the foresight and expertise of British scientists, the atomic bomb could never have been built when it was.

Groves and Oppenheimer

Roosevelt and Churchill

Did Britain's A-Bomb Supremo Lord William Penney deserve his blue plaque?

On Friday August 8th, 2014 a blue plaque was unveiled on a quintessentially English cottage in a pretty Oxforshi commemorate the li Lord Penney who li in East Hendred fro 1963 to his death in 1991

He became Baron Penney of East Hendred in 1967

The plaque was initiated by the Parish Council and was the first blue plaque in the village

Lord Penney was a physicist who had a leading role in the development of Britain's nuclear programme, was Chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority from 1962 to 1967, and became Rector of Imperial College, London A laboratory at Imperial has been named after him. He took part in village affairs being a Trustee of the newly formed Community Centre Committee and sometime President of the Sports Club

Lady Penney was an active church-goer, member of the Parochial Church Council and President of the Playgroup. She gave a generous donation to the village to establish a children’s playground in memory of her husband.

The Penney Playpark was opened by Lady Penney herself in October 2000 as part of the village’s Millennium celebrations She said at

the time that “Bill loved children and always found them much easier company than their e also planted a tree in the ound.

John Sharp (Chair of the Parish ouncil) welcomed guests to the occasion. Professor Cowley, the CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, spoke of the many achievements of Lord Penney during his lifetime

The plaque makes no mention of Penney's leading role in the aking of the atomic bomb at Alamos in 1945.

serving the Trinitry test on July 16, 1945, Penney was part of the elite bomb making team sent to Tinian Island in the Marianas to prepare the bombs unleashed over Hiroshima and Nagasaki

He observed the bombing of Nagasaki from the rear gunners seat on the camera plane accompanying the bomber.

He later walked in the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as part of the scientific team sent in to assess the damage. He vowed then to do everything in his power to stop a similar fate falling on London

His pivotal role in developing Britain's first atomic bomb made him a controversial figure But he never regretted his actions saying that it was vital for Britain to have its own independent nuclear deterrent.

*What do you think? Should Penney be honoured in this way? Replies to:fissionline@gmail.com

Penney (centre) with fellow scientists in Australia in 1956

Fifties nuclear bomb test fallout now putting millenials under threat

Recent authoritative reports state that the number of young people in the UK aged between 25 and 49 diagnosed with cancer has increased by 22 per cent, a bigger rise than any other age group and more than twice the 9 per cent increase in the over-75s prompting leading epidemiologists to call it an 'epidemic'.

'Millennials' people now in their 20s and 30s seem to be particularly at risk.

Professor Ketan Patel, chief scientist at Cancer Research UK, said: "Cancer is typically a disease of older age when there are more changes in the cells, some of which have the potential to become cancerous

"But over the last few decades, we have noticed an alarming uptick in certain types of cancer in the UK in much younger people, particularly colon, womb, breast and kidney cancer."

Even more alarming, cases of thyroid cancer, a known marker for radiation are also soaring among 15 to 39-year-olds, according to figures from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine in the U.S.

It states that between 1990 and 2019 there was an 81 per cent increase in cases in this age group in G20 nations, compared to a 24 per cent increase in all cancers.

And UK figures predict thyroid cancer cases overall will rise even further, by 74 per cent between 2014 and 2035.

What exactly is driving this dramatic rise in 'earlyonset' cancers is unclear, but it could be the effects of global fallout are now accelerating.

Early studies in America show that fallout from nuclear blasts at the Nevada Test Site near Las Vegas may have caused 10,000 to 75,000 thyroid cancers, 70 percent of which have not yet been diagnosed, the US National Cancer Institute

reported.

Three-quarters of those cases were expected to develop in people who were younger than 5 at the time of exposure, which occurred in 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1957, the institute said Medical experts say that about 10 percent of such cancers are fatal "There were few, if any, Americans in the contiguous 48 states at the time that were not exposed to some level of fallout," said Dr. Richard Klausner, director of the institute The institute said the average dose to all Americans from the fallout was 2 rads to the thyroid A rad is a measure of radiation absorbed by flesh, and that amount is equal to the dose from five mammograms, officials said But some children appear to have received 100 rads, and all the exposure levels are uncertain The radiation exposure is from iodine 131, a radioactive form of iodine that is part of bomb fallout Iodine is concentrated in the milk of cows and goats because they eat grass that has been contaminated with the chemical. Estimates of exposure are based on the pattern of grazing and milk distribution and consumption

Worldwide, local indiginnous populations are known to have been seriously impacted by nuclear bomb tests And it is well-known that the offspring of servicemen exposed to nuclear blasts have been seriously impacted.

Studies by this newspaper and others have shown that radiogenic illnesses such as leukaemia and multiple myeloma are present in the offspring of nuclear veterans at levels way above normal And cases of Down's Syndrome, and other serious genetic illnesses are said to be 10 times the norm. Experts fear that the huge quastities of plutonium and other radionuclides hurled into the stratosphere from nuclear bomb tests are only now drifting back to earth and may explain increases in cancers and other illnesses

Prof Ketan Patel

The Fissionline Project

The Fissionline Project was formed on March 1st 2013 with the aim of bringing the “most important people living” to the attention of the world. The term was coined by Robert H. Holmes, Director of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Hiroshima to describe the survivors of the atomic bomb strike who were afflicted by radiation sickness and illnesses passed on to unborn children, and those yet to be conceived. Our unique archive collected over 40 years of research. includes health records, service information, death certificates, photographs, videos, declassified documents, personal letters and other ephemera, as well as hundreds of personal accounts from the men who took part in nuclear bomb tests and radiation industries. We plan to present this invaluable resource in a graphic and easy to understand format so that it can be readily accessed by all sections of the community, young and old, academic and non-academic.The threat of nuclear war has been an omniscient presence ever since 1945. Our mission is to help prevent this madness before it is too late. We are an independent, nonprofitmaking organisation set up for the common good.

*If you want to join us, or think you can help contact: Alan Rimmer, Fissionline editor fissionline@gmail.com

'A pleasant way to die'...

The start of the greatest cover-up in history

By Sean L. Malloy

General Leslie R Groves, military head of the wartime atomic bomb project, was privately alarmed by the press attention given to radiation effects. On the morning of August 25, Groves placed a call to Lt. Col. Charles E. Rea, a surgeon and head of the base hospital at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, facility that separated the uranium used in the Hiroshima bomb. Despite his formal connection to the project, Rea had no expertise in the field of radiation or its effects on the human body Nevertheless, Groves sought from him confirmation that the reports of delayed deaths due to radiation were simply “a good dose of propaganda.”

Groves candidly admitted that his concern was not with those potentially afflicted, but rather with the political impact of the stories. “We are not bothered a bit,” he said of the reports of radiation sickness, “excepting for what they are trying to do is create sympathy [for the Japanese] ”

Groves was particularly worried about

Blakeslee’s (A reporter for Associated Press) story “This,” he confided before reading aloud Blakeslee’s assertion that radiation effects were well known in American laboratories prior to Hiroshima, “is what hurts us ”Dr Rea obligingly told Groves what he clearly wanted to hear, repeatedly affirming that the delayed deaths were likely the result of “just good old thermal burns” and that Japanese claims to the contrary were “hookum” and “propaganda.” Rea dismissed reports of reduced white and red blood cell counts among those exposed to the bomb, suggesting that these findings were the result of “a very poorly-controlled experiment ”

The two men made light of reports of nausea and loss of appetite among the victims. “From what I’ve heard of how much food they get in Japan,” Groves remarked, “I don’t think they’d lose their appetite, do you?” Like Groves, Rea’s greatest concern appeared to be that stories of delayed deaths due to radiation caused by the A-bomb might arouse public sympathy for the Japanese

To quash these stories, Rea advised the general that “you had better get the anti-propagandists out.” Groves confided that he had already made efforts to that effect and suggested that “the only other thing is to get the AP science editor on the straight track, but I don’t know how to do that ”

Though Groves sometimes appeared buffoonish, the general who had helped guide the Manhattan Project to a successful conclusion was not a stupid man He understood that Rea’s reassurances would not be sufficient to contain the emerging story of delayed radiation effects among Japanese victims of the bomb. In addition to mounting a vigorous public relations campaign, Groves had already ordered the dispatch of radiological survey teams to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to gather information on the bomb’s after effects

Groves repeatedly cabled the team, led by his second in command General Thomas F.Farrell, for any information that might be of use in combating “Japanese horror stories” about radiation that were “getting big play in the American press ”

Afront-page story in the New York Times in early September reporting that Allied prisoners of war at Nagasaki were among those killed by radiation only added to the urgency. The findings of the American survey teams at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were mixed.

On the one hand, they successfully combated sensational claims that residual radioactivity had rendered the affected cities totally uninhabitable, perhaps for as long as seventy years They confirmed, however, that the initial burst of radiation from the bomb’s explosion had produced the kind of delayed and lingering symptoms observed by Japanese doctors

By the time Groves testified before a Senate committee in November 1945, he could no longer plausibly deny that the bomb’s radiation effects had lingering and fatal consequences. Instead, he tried a new tactic. While greatly down-playing the number of radiation

casualties, he also insisted there was nothing particularly unusual happening.While medical specialists that he sent to Japan told him otherwise, Groves would remain in denial about the impact and effects of radioactivity by going as far as to tell U S Senators that there was “no radioactive residue” at the bombed cities and that radiation sickness was a “very pleasant way to die " Groves’s post-Hiroshima statements, which ranged from the comic to the macabre, were part of an evolving campaign by American officials to downplay or deny the fatal and lingering radiation effects inflicted by nuclear weapons

While he showed no concern for the victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Groves seemed to fear that if the bomb were proved to have indiscriminate, lethal, and invisible effects that persisted long after its use, then it might easily be grouped with chemical and biological weapons as an inhumane form of warfare. Such a categorisation would not only undercut the ability of the United States to test or to make use of nuclear weapons in any future war, but also might lead to criticism of those who had designed, built, and authorized the use of the atomic bomb against Japan

Indeed, despite the best efforts of Groves and his successors, radiation effects ultimately became central to the widespread understanding of nuclear weapons as uniquely terrible and have likely contributed to the formation of a nuclear “taboo” that has helped check their use since 1945.

Domestic concerns about radiation effects starting in the 1950s spurred efforts to ban above-ground nuclear testing as well as lawsuits by “downwinders”exposed as a result of tests on U S soil Internationally, the 1954 Lucky Dragon incident, in which the crew of a Japanese fishing trawler was exposed to dangerous levels of fallout from a U.S. H-bomb test on Bikini atoll, strained relations with Japan and led to increased antinuclear activism at a crucial moment in the Cold War.

General Leslie Groves

How Britain's Christmas Island H-Bomb tests brought death and destruction to an English village

By Alan Rimmer

You could hardly call it a village...just a little cluster of houses on either side of a road fringed by overhanging trees.

Etterby in Cumbria had no pub, no shop, no hall, no church. It was just a disparate scattering of semis and cottages skirting fields just north of Carlisle. But if there had been a church bell to toll it would have heralded a mournful dir for a collecti very frighten people living the shadow o nuclear death

Unexplained cancers devastated Etterby's population of only 50, cancers which logically could have only one origin...and that could be found a short walk away across the fields

Just half a mile from Etterby, patrolled by armed police and surrounded by razor wire, lay a top secret RAF base

It was a sinister place, a collection of anonymous, grey, corrugated sheds, with no obvious purpose, shrouded in mystery and going under the cryptic name 14MU. Only two small signs pointed the way to it from surrounding roads.

But MU14 had a secret past, a past so terrible that nothing was ever officially divulged about it But

the local populace found out what it was but too late to do anything about it.

For they discovered that vast quantities of nuclear waste from Britain's H-bomb tests on Christmas Island in the Pacific were disposed of there. Normal radioactive objects, mainly dials and instruments were buried there, as well But tons off more sinister radioactive materials from the nuclear tests sites was also there.

And during a d in the 1960s, most criminal ard for , this highly minated ial was evably burnt d spread over arby fields s from the nearby Solway Firth were able to whip up the nuclear dust and blow it across nearby Etterby, a reeking harbinger of a catastrophe the authorities were helpless to stop. And it wasn't long before the creeping curse of cancers began to have its deadly impact in Etterby. As the years went by cancers in the village reached epidemic proportions, so much so that one villager Leslie Bell, who was one of the early casualties, drew up a "doomsday list" of victims among his neighbours

To his astonishment it revealed that half the population had been affected in one way or another. Out of a total of 50 people living in just 26 houses, Leslie, the boss of a coach firm, and a neighbour Ronald Barton calculated that 28 had either died or were suffering from cancer

Ronald, then 65, said in an interview: "When we got our heads together we discovered that the problem was much worse than we imagined. Almost every house in the village seemed to have been affected at one time or another.

"It seemed that every time someone got ill it was cancer. It just seemed to spread and spread." An investigation carried out at the time, using official medical records and death certificates revealed that at least 10 people had died of rare cancers over a 20 yr period beginning in 1974

In that same period only three people from the village had died of other causes such as heart attacks. The investigation also discovered that in that same period three more people, who had subsequently left the village, had died of cancer

And more tellingly three people died of the blood cancers, leukeamia, with one more battling the disease One had the further complication of multiple myeloma, a condition firmly linked to radiation exposure.

The statistic astounded local health officials. Dr Peter Tiplady, Carlisle's director of public health, examined the figures and estimated that the number of blood cancers in the village was up to TEN TIMES what might normally be expected

But statistics can only tell half the story Like Britain's nuclear test veterans the personal tragedies suffered by many of the villagers when interviewed were heartbreaking

People like Doreen Nicholson lost not one, but two husbands from exactly the same same type of cancer Her torment began in 1985 when her first husband Geoff Taylor was struck down. They had been married for 25 years and although they had never had children were blissfully content in their little semi In a interview Doreen said: "We'd both lived in the

village since 1954 and loved it It was such a beautiful place Geoff used to go salmon fishing in the River Eden at the bottom of the village and he used to say it was the ideal place to live

"He was such an independent man and very fit a big, strong man whio had never been ill. He was only in his early fifties when he began to complain of

stomach pains

When cancer was iagnosed Geoff ust couldn't cope with it. He couldn't elieve that omething like that ould happen to im. He was in errible, terrible ain and he became different person o the lovely man I ad known He suffered a ramatic weight oss and had to be ropped up with uge cushions

ecause his bones were swticking hrough He became very difficult, but it was only because of the pain "

Significantly by the time Geoff died concern about the number of cancer incidents in the village was already being openly expressed

People started gathering on street corners, talking in whispers, very often afraid to air their true feelings. Said Doreen: "But I was too grief-stricken to take much notice My whole world had come tumbling down and I just wanted to shut myself away. I hardly ever went out "

One day out of the blue, Doreen received a phone call from one of Arthur's friends, Geoff Nicholson. She said`: "The firsrt thing he said to me was that it was about time I went out At first I couldn't, but Geoff kept ringing and in the end I thought, 'why not.'

They enjoyed each others company and after three years Geoff popped the question. Said Doreen: "For the first time in many years I was happy; I learned to smile again "

But an almost unbelievably cruel coincidence was to shatter Doreen's new-found joy.

About a year after they were married, Geoff started to complain of frequent indigestion and stomach pains.

Etterby next to the site of the former MU14 RAF base

A cold dread seized Doreen when her local doctor visited her "I knew what he was going to say even before he said it," she said.

"He came in, threw his hat on the floor and said to me: "Geoff's got the same cancer that Arthur had " Bravely Doreen nursed her second husband throughout his illness, but she couldn't prevent the cruel illness taking its inexorable course

She said: "Geoff died, like Arthur, in my arms, in the same bedroom Another lovely man had gone out of my life forever "

When she had recovered sufficiently, Doreen decided to leave Etterby and move to the other side of Cumbria

She felt the place was "cursed "

First-hand evidence of what was exactly happening at 14MU was provided by Harry Johnson, who worked there when material from the 1957 Christmas Island nuclear bomb tests arrived to be processed

In a interview Harry said: "Hundreds of tons of waste from the tests were brought to the base by rail It was stored floor to ceiling in huge warehouses

"When the boxes were opened, there was all sorts of equipment -- engines, dials, tables, chairs, things like that The were also strange things like huge centipedes and dead seabirds.

"When I was told it had to be disposed of, I asked why couldn't things like the tables and chairs be given to local schools, I was told that was impossible because it was radioactive and had to be burned "

Harry, a shy thoughtful man, was anything but a "leftie" rabble-rouser. When he gave his interview, he was a retired heating engineer with no political axe to grind This made his description of how the deadly waste was dealt with all the more disturbing. "They used to take it out and burn it in the fields on big bonfires," he said "Most of the ashes were just spread about. No one seemed to care about the

health consequences "

His, and other eyewitness accounts, were backed up by independent findings. A leaked report by London-based consulting engineers, Cambell Reith Hill revealed that 14MU had been "extensively contaminated" with various toxic and radiological materials

The report, which also found that the contamation was present deep below ground, concluded that it would cost at least £18million to clear up

The Ministry of Defence acknowledged the seriousness of the situation, but said they were "sure" that all safety precautions would have been taken

Local councillors blamed the government for the contamination and demanded they foot the bill for the clean up

In the end it was decided to close the site completely and turn it into an industrial park

Meanwile local health chiefs promised a "full investigation" into the devastating health consequences on the villagers

But interest in the problem soon diminished especially after local people were warned of the impact on the value of their homes As a result no real investigation was carried out.

There was a different mood in the country as Britain entered the 1990s It was a time of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity. People were obsessed by celebrity and the celebrity lifestyle The nation embarked on a gigantic spending spree and considerations about the environment and other issues were brushed under the carpet They were indifferent to the horrors of the past and the nuclear bogyman didn’t seem so scary any more.

Etterby no longer exists as a village in its own right

It's sad epitaph on the local website reads:"Etterby, a former village in Cumbria, England, is now a northwestern suburb of Carlisle, on the northern side of the River Eden "

Wiped off the map: Etterby Village

Moral injury: the key to justice for nuclear veterans

I began to use the term of moral injury in external circles to engage in conversation including with the Office for Veterans’ Affairs The day after I wrote to the then Minister for Defence People and Veterans’, Leo Docherty, about this, he mentioned moral injury during a televised Defence Select Committee meeting. The Cabinet Office Director told me he was taken by surprise as this hadn’t been agreed. During 2022, I had the privilege of being interviewed on multiple occasions on BBC national television and radio about the work of the BNTVA and related moral injury As the daughter of a nuclear test veteran, I really felt and continue to feel this first hand, and that is why I will continue to speak out about this human rights contravention

By Ceri Marsh

Over the years, I have listened to dozens of British, US and Commonwealth nuclear test veterans relate their first-hand experiences of the tests and radiation clean ups during the 1950s through to the 1970s French and Chinese surveillance flights I am familiar with the patterns of explanation, reminiscent of my nuclear veteran father’s experience, and the uniqueness of each account I never tire of these stories and that is why when I commenced my tenure as Chair of the BNTVA, I stressed the importance of collating personal histories of nuclear veterans Hence the BNTVA joined the Oral History Society at that time. Narratives remain consistent about how our nuclear veterans felt and are aggrieved at “being volunteered”, “subjected to” and “told” to witness radioactive bombs of varying sizes and concoctions. I read accounts of US atomic veterans who were described as experiencing Radiation Response Syndrome, so I reached out and just over two years ago I received a private message from a veteran working in the NHS saying, “I think the term you’re looking for is moral injury.”

This person had hit the nail on the head! Moral injury explains that a transgression has occurred, and a violation has been committed by a higher power or institution. It features an act of betrayal, act of omission or act of commission In the case of the nuclear veteran, the betrayal is defined as an act of the government subjecting a person to harm which changes one’s life-long outlook negatively, the act of omission constitutes a lack or insufficiency of protective clothing and the act of commission covers a lack of choice in being exposed to live radioactive combat conditions during a time of no actual conflict.

Last year I was approached by Ian Foulkes, Porton Down veteran. Ian served in the Royal Signals and in 1983, aged 19, he was volunteered (that phrase again) to attend the Porton Down science facility He was placed in a chamber, given a respirator to aid his breathing and two drops of sarin nerve agent were placed on his arm, with very distressing results

I was familiar with Porton Down testing and the apparent search for a cure for the common cold by government scientists but on meeting Ian I read about a far bigger issue of human experimentation than just nuclear testing. The UK government has been experimenting on its troops since the First World War; over 20,000 British service personnel were subjected to chemical and biological testing by the government between 1916-1989, as well as thousands of civilians When individuals spoke out about these occurrences, the MOD, described these experiments as “for the greater good” despite evidence that Royal Engineers were subjected to LSD testing at Porton Down in 1964, which caused life-long neuropsychiatric effects.

This is why Michelle Harding and I have set up BREACHED, which stands for Biological, Radiological, Ethical Abuse, Chemical Harm and Ethical Detriment

BREACHED will address arising issues about ethics within artificial Intelligence and human augmentation. BREACHED has begun working with individuals and communities, including nuclear test veterans, to provide welfare services and counselling where needed through our affiliation with Forces Online CIO If you want to know more please contact Michelle and me through Fissionline or contact us direct at:-

ceri.marsh@forcesonline.org.uk or michelle.harding@forcesonline.org.uk

I see that former MP (now Lord) Tom Watson has crept back into the public eye by vocally supporting the Mirror's campaign for a medal for the nuclear veterans.

Watson won't be the first, and certainly not the last MP, to use the veterans to virtue signal that deep down he is a decent chap And he certainly needs something to improve his image after the fiasco of the notorious Met Police's 'Operation Midland' scandal into a supposed Establishment child sex ring.

Watson was handed the dubious sobriquet of "Nonce-finder General" after he gave vociferous support to an evil fantacist (now thankfully jailed for a very long time) who falsely accused prominent figures like the late PM Edward Heath and former Home Secretary Leon Brittan of being part of a gang of prominent figures that raped and even murdered children in the most appalling circumstances.

Spurred on by Watson, a powerful political figure at the time, the Met Police, without even carrying out the most basic enquiries, trashed the homes of Brittan and another Tory MP in their search for clues Of course they found nothing and were later

forced to apologise and pay compensation

But there was someone else whose reputation was trashed by the probe and that was the former head of the Army Field Marshal Lord Bramall KG GCB OBE MC He, too, was cleared completely, but sadly died before being officially told. Field Marshal Bramhall was one of the most outstanding military figure of the last century He was awarded the Military Cross for valour in Germany, witnessed the horrors of Belsen concentration camp Ironically, he ended the war by being part of one of the first military units walking among the ruins of Hiroshima where he saw, at first hand, the aftermath of atomic warfare.

In that sense he was a nuclear veteran which makes it even more galling that Watson should now be trying to rehabilitate himself by advocating for our nuclear veterans

I wonder if Watson considered any of this as he set about setting the storm-troopers of the Met on such an heroic figure as he sat at home with his wife enjoying a well-earned retirement

Ken McGinley Roy Sefton Archie Ross Derek Chappell Barbara Penney Halldane Isaksen Robert Wells

Lord Tom Watson