Fissionline 69

FISSIONLINE Issue 69

The International Bulletin of Atomic Matters

July 2023

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

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.

Comment Is that really Mirror wants? Perhaps it thinks The clamour over the Nuclear Test Medal, that by "winning" a medal for the veterans, it forever to be known as the BORIS GONG, has will be able to close down its own campaign. reached hysterical proportions.

We sincerely hope that is not the case. What a Obscure Labour MPS are lining up in pitiable end that would be! Forty years of pain, Parliament to demand it be struck NOW! Those suffering, strife and torment for a shiny bit of who purport to represent the nuclear veterans metal pinned to the breasts of the very few are threatening some sort of protest at the nuclear veterans surviving.

Remembrance day celebrations if they don't get Is this what the mighty Daily Mirror, the the medal NOW! soldier's newspaper, heir to Cassandra, Marje Meanwhile the Daily Mirror has launched a Proops, Paul Foot, John Pilger and others, has petition to whip up support to force the MoD to been reduced to? provide the medal NOW! Begging Boris Johnson for a medal! The What is it about these people? They've got their Mirror needs to up its game. medal, even though it is admittedly from the It needs to use all that investigative talent it is lower echelons of medallic honours. rightly famous for to get to the real truth.

As far as we know the first and only person to Expose the scientists and their current suggest a medal for Britain's nuclear veterans cheerleaders who knew that troops would be hit was the Duke of Edinburgh. by fallout.

On a visit to Christmas Island in 1959 he Expose the doctors and their well-funded turned to his honour guard and, referring to the contemporaries who continue to cover-up the primitive conditions they lived in, said: "You terrible health consequences. all deserve a medal for being here."

Expose the lying, cheating politicians who In forty years of talking to nuclear veterans continue to hide behind the spurious evidence since we have never come across a single case of their academic placemen. where the interviewee expressed a desire for a Surely the Mirror with all its resources could medal. mount a new campaign, an investigation that It seems we have been talking to the wrong would have real teeth? One that would have the veterans.

Ministry of Defence diving for cover, doctors If recent Daily Mirror reports are anything to and scientists cowering under their desks, and go by there is a positive clamour for a medal politicians quaking in their boots? out there.

In the best traditions of journalism, the Daily Every veteran it speaks to these days seems Mirror should drag them all out kicking and desperate to get their hands on one, and the screaming into the harsh light of truth to face newspaper is expending a lot of energy and the consequences. newsprint on their behalf.

Such an action would be greeted with universal It reported "gasps" of astonishment when a acclaim and maybe, just maybe it could restore Labour MP spoke about it in Parliament. the Daily Mirror's historic role as a true And "gasp" an invitation to Downing Street to champion of the ordinary people of this talk about a medal was treated as though the country. newspaper was entering the portals of Valhalla, A big thank you for all your messages of support and the mythical Norse paradise of warriors. offers of help following our last edition. Your kind That may be all very well, but the fact remains and thoughtful comments are a great help. Articles should be addressecd to fissionline@gmail.com the award of a medal will not advance the cause of the nuclear veterans or their children Confidentiality is respected at all times. one jot.

Editor

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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 3

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 4

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.

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.

Nuclear Matters

* 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.

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“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."

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 patron and often spoke up on our behalf.

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 6

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 Defence 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.

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

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,

By Haldane Isaksen

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 7

the charity, and not direct to Veterans, and we Veterans and OUR aims? Too many of them also discovered that a company had already been have absolutely no understanding, that much has set up to administer this cash well in advance of become very apparent.

Let me tell them that they have done us no any acknowledgement to the members.

All nations involved in nuclear testing have favours whatsoever and, furthermore, they have awarded compensation directly to their betrayed us! I am aware that these positions are personnel involved, all except this one. voluntary and I do know what it is to get That money, that compensation, that the brickbats when you deserve plaudits, I’ve been BNTVA membership had sweated long and hard there, but at one time we were active with legal for went to another charity set up to administer action and also had regular and rewarding it. contact with comrades overseas who served All the guys alongside us. that had done Members of the hard yards, the real most of whom BNTVA, the had passed real Nuclear away by now, Veterans (the many in very clue is in the painful name) have circumstances, been used, plus widows abused and and bruised merely dependents, to massage a were to get few sad egos. absolutely But it also has nothing. to be said that We’ve now many trustees/ been rewarded committee with some members have tawdry piece been genuine The original BNTVA banner of pound shop in their bling that approach and portrays no we thank them sense of its kindly for that. uniqueness or its position in history. It is to be In conclusion I say this:- Our legacy will be that hoped that when the gongs are strutted around we served,we did our duty and in return ‘All we some modicum of thought is given to those men sought was Justice’. Your legacy will be not who served, who did their duty and whose only what you did FOR us but what you did TO us! award was that of fatal doses of radiation: men This year is the fortieth anniversary of the whose inheritance was snatched away and whose Association and we should have been celebrating memory has been blemished. a victory. Instead, we have become not victors Meanwhile, back at the real BNTVA how, but victims exactly, have THEY benefitted US the Veterans Harmed by our own side once again.It appears that they purport to represent? In too many that there is no Justice! And can anyone tell me instances it’s been all about them. They come, exactly, what is the purpose of the BNTVA these they go! The penultimate Board became known days and what is its future aim? More of the as the ‘Hokey Kokeys’ – in, out, in, out, ‘can’t same? have it my way and so I’m off’.

Fighting like RATS in a sack. In all this time Nuclear Veteran Spr H. A. Isaksen 38 did anyone give a single thought to the actual CER Royal Engineers 8

Art imitating life: No room for Brits in Hollywood blockbuster

By Alan Rimmer OPPENHEIMER, the muchCanadians. anticipated $100 million The "Smyth Report" , or to give it Hollywood blockbuster, about the scientific its proper title: Atomic Energy for Military genius who headed the Manhattan Project, is set Purposes was rushed into print and soon became to hit the cinema screens on July 21. a bestseller. To the dismay of the British the But as in real life, the Americans are making report gave the clear impression that the sure that the British contribution to the building development of the atomic bomb had been of the atomic bomb doesn't even get a bit part. primarily an American enterprise.

For the first time in almost 80 years a new To counter this misconception, the UK audience will be introduced to the momentous government quickly rushed out its own version events of August, 1945 that proved the most of events in a 40-page pamphlet, Statements decisive in the history of humankind.

Relating to the Atomic Bomb, which the A weapon culled from the pages of Flash Americans reluctantly inserted into their own Gordon and Dan Dare exploded in the earthversion as an appendix. shattering events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki But it made very little difference: Hollywood culminating in the ending of World War II. became involved and its hastily shot 1946 film They combined to leave the world breathless and version of the atomic story The Beginning of the jubilant at the same time. A new world of awe End left audiences in no doubt that almost all of and wonder, a world full of limitless the atomic scientists had been American. 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 9

Despite protests, American scholars continued war in August 1945.

Of course the programme to build an atomic to downplay the Brtish efforts. James Phinney Baxter III's Scientists Against Time, which won weapon could not have been achieved without American industrial muscle. It was, after all, the 1947 Pulitzer Prize in History, praised the the biggest organised effort since the pyramids British scientists for their accomplishments in and the cost was far beyond what Britain could the creation of radar and other areas of afford. technical expertise.

It employed over 200,000 workers and cost But when it came to the atomic bomb, he over two billion dollars...a bill largely stood by concentrated almost exclusively on the the Americans. And American effort.

In 1949 Gerneral Groves there is no doubt that downplayed the British role it could never have even further in a scathing been built in the time statement arguing against that it was without sharing atomic secrets with the the burly bulldozing UK: "I cannot recall any direct driving force of British contribution to our General Leslie success in achieving the bomb."

Groves or the And when he wrote his memoirs elegant, slight figure in 1962, Now It Can Be Told, of J. Robert Groves termed the British Oppenheimer, the contribution "helpful but not genius who kept all Groves and Oppenheimer vital." the intricate parts of But perhaps the most damning the atomic bomb criticism appeared in the US within his head.

Government's official 35 volume Official It's been said that 'Little Boy', the Hiroshima History of the Manhattan Project, written in bomb, and 'Fat Man', the Nagasaki weapon, 1946/47. This assessment, kept secret were named after until 1977, stated that the British Presendent Roosevelt scientists involved were of "moderate and Winston Churchill.

But you only have to attainments" and that they crossed the look at the pictures of Atlantic primarily to obtain nuclear Groves and information from the Americans.

The British effort, the report Oppenheimer standing concluded, "was in no sense vital and togeher to realise that actually not even important. To the two weapons were evaluate it quantitively at one per cent named after them.

They certainly deserve total would be to overestimate it. The their places in history technical and and engineering and Hollywood's contribution was practically nil. lionisation of their Certainly it is true that without any achievements is contribution at all from the British, the understandable. date of our final success need not have Roosevelt and Churchill We wait to see if the been delayed by a single day."

British effort is featured Historians since have blasted these statements as "absurd." Distinguished academic in the film. On past form it seems doubtful.

Margaret Gowing said that had the members of But it should never be forgotten that without the foresight and expertise of British scientists, the British Mission at Los Aloamos not done the atomic bomb could never have been built what they did when they did it, the atomic bomb would not have been available to end the when it was.

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

On Friday August 8th, 2014 a blue plaque was the time that “Bill loved children and always unveiled on a quintessentially English cottage found them much easier company than their in a pretty Oxforshire village to elders”. She also planted a tree in the commemorate the life of playground.

Lord Penney who lived Dr. John Sharp (Chair of the Parish in East Hendred from Council) welcomed guests to the 1963 to his death in occasion. Professor Cowley, 1991. the CEO of the UK Atomic He became Baron Energy Authority, spoke of Penney of East the many achievements of Hendred in 1967.

Lord Penney during his The plaque was lifetime initiated by the The plaque makes no mention Parish Council and of Penney's leading role in the was the first blue making of the atomic bomb at plaque in the village.

Los Alamos in 1945.

Lord Penney was a After observing the Trinitry test on July physicist who had a leading role 16, 1945, Penney was part of the elite bomb in the development of Britain's nuclear making team sent to Tinian Island in the programme, was Chairman of the UK Atomic Marianas to prepare the bombs unleashed over Energy Authority from 1962 to 1967, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. became Rector of Imperial College, London.

He observed the bombing of Nagasaki from the A laboratory at Imperial rear gunners seat on the has been named after him. camera plane accompanying He took part in village the bomber. affairs being a Trustee of He later walked in the ashes the newly formed of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Community Centre as part of the scientific team Committee and sometime sent in to assess the damage.

President of the Sports He vowed then to do Club. everything in his power to Lady Penney was an stop a similar fate falling on Penney (centre) with fellow scientists in Australia in 1956. active church-goer, London. member of the Parochial Church Council and His pivotal role in developing Britain's first President of the Playgroup. She gave a atomic bomb made him a controversial figure. generous donation to the village to establish a But he never regretted his actions saying that it children’s playground in memory of her was vital for Britain to have its own husband. independent nuclear deterrent.

The Penney Playpark was opened by Lady *What do you think? Should Penney be Penney herself in October 2000 as part of the honoured in this way? Replies to:fissionline@gmail.com village’s Millennium celebrations. She said at 11

Fifties nuclear bomb test fallout now putting millenials under threat Recent authoritative reports state that the number of reported. young people in the UK aged between 25 and 49 Three-quarters of those cases were expected to diagnosed with cancer has increased by 22 per cent, develop in people who were younger than 5 at the a bigger rise than any other age group — and more time of exposure, which occurred in 1952, 1953, than twice the 9 per cent increase in the over-75s — 1955 and 1957, the institute said. Medical experts prompting leading epidemiologists to call it an say that about 10 percent of such cancers are fatal. 'epidemic'.

"There were few, if any, Americans 'Millennials' — people now in their in the contiguous 48 states at the 20s and 30s — seem to be time that were not exposed to some particularly at risk. level of fallout," said Dr. Richard Professor Ketan Patel, chief Klausner, director of the institute. scientist at Cancer Research UK, The institute said the average dose said: "Cancer is typically a disease to all Americans from the fallout of older age when there are more was 2 rads to the thyroid. A rad is a changes in the cells, some of which measure of radiation absorbed by have the potential to become flesh, and that amount is equal to Prof Ketan Patel cancerous. the dose from five mammograms, "But over the last few decades, we officials said. But some children have noticed an alarming uptick in appear to have received 100 rads, certain types of cancer in the UK in much younger and all the exposure levels are uncertain. people, particularly colon, womb, breast and kidney The radiation exposure is from iodine 131, a cancer." radioactive form of iodine that is part of bomb Even more alarming, cases of thyroid cancer, a fallout. Iodine is concentrated in the milk of cows known marker for radiation are also soaring among and goats because they eat grass that has been 15 to 39-year-olds, according to figures from the contaminated with the chemical. Estimates of Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the exposure are based on the pattern of grazing and University of Washington School of Medicine in milk distribution and consumption. the U.S. Worldwide, local indiginnous populations are It states that between 1990 and 2019 there was an known to have been seriously impacted by nuclear 81 per cent increase in cases in this age group in bomb tests. And it is well-known that the offspring G20 nations, compared to a 24 per cent increase in of servicemen exposed to nuclear blasts have been all cancers. seriously impacted.

And UK figures predict thyroid cancer cases overall Studies by this newspaper and others have shown will rise even further, by 74 per cent between 2014 that radiogenic illnesses such as leukaemia and and 2035. multiple myeloma are present in the offspring of What exactly is driving this dramatic rise in 'earlynuclear veterans at levels way above normal. onset' cancers is unclear, but it could be the effects And cases of Down's Syndrome, and other serious of global fallout are now accelerating. genetic illnesses are said to be 10 times the norm.

Early studies in America show that fallout from Experts fear that the huge quastities of plutonium nuclear blasts at the Nevada Test Site near Las and other radionuclides hurled into the stratosphere Vegas may have caused 10,000 to 75,000 thyroid from nuclear bomb tests are only now drifting back cancers, 70 percent of which have not yet been to earth and may explain increases in cancers and diagnosed, the US National Cancer Institute other illnesses.

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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

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'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 14

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 casualties, he also insisted there was nothing that “you had better get the anti-propagandists particularly unusual happening.While medical out.” Groves confided that he had already made specialists that he sent to Japan told him otherwise, efforts to that effect and suggested that “the Groves would remain in denial about the impact only other thing is to get the AP science editor and effects of radioactivity by going as far as to tell on the straight track, but I don’t know how to U.S. Senators that there was “no radioactive do that.” residue” at the bombed cities and that radiation Though Groves sometimes appeared sickness was a “very pleasant way to die." buffoonish, the general who had helped guide Groves’s post-Hiroshima statements, which the Manhattan Project to a successful ranged from the comic to the macabre, were conclusion was not a stupid man. part of an evolving campaign by American He understood that Rea’s reassurances would officials to downplay or deny the fatal and not be sufficient to contain the emerging story lingering radiation effects inflicted by nuclear of delayed radiation effects among Japanese weapons victims of the bomb. In addition to mounting a While he showed no concern for the victims in vigorous public relations Hiroshima and Nagasaki, campaign, Groves had Groves seemed to fear that if already ordered the dispatch the bomb were proved to of radiological survey teams have indiscriminate, lethal, to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in and invisible effects that order to gather information persisted long after its use, on the bomb’s after effects. then it might easily be Groves repeatedly cabled the grouped with chemical and team, led by his second in biological weapons as an command General Thomas inhumane form of warfare.

F.Farrell, for any information Such a categorisation would that might be of use in not only undercut the ability combating “Japanese horror of the United States to test or stories” about radiation that to make use of nuclear General Leslie Groves were “getting big play in the weapons in any future war, American press.” but also might lead to criticism of those who Afront-page story in the New York Times in had designed, built, and authorized the use of early September reporting that Allied prisoners the atomic bomb against Japan. of war at Nagasaki were among those killed by Indeed, despite the best efforts of Groves and radiation only added to the urgency. The his successors, radiation effects ultimately findings of the American survey teams at became central to the widespread underHiroshima and Nagasaki were mixed. standing of nuclear weapons as uniquely On the one hand, they successfully combated terrible and have likely contributed to the sensational claims that residual radioactivity formation of a nuclear “taboo” that has helped had rendered the affected cities totally check their use since 1945. uninhabitable, perhaps for as long as seventy Domestic concerns about radiation effects years. They confirmed, however, that the initial starting in the 1950s spurred efforts to ban burst of radiation from the bomb’s explosion above-ground nuclear testing as well as had produced the kind of delayed and lingering lawsuits by “downwinders”exposed as a result symptoms observed by Japanese doctors. of tests on U.S. soil. Internationally, the 1954 By the time Groves testified before a Senate Lucky Dragon incident, in which the crew of a committee in November 1945, he could no Japanese fishing trawler was exposed to danlonger plausibly deny that the bomb’s radiation gerous levels of fallout from a U.S. H-bomb effects had lingering and fatal consequences. test on Bikini atoll, strained relations with Instead, he tried a new tactic. While greatly Japan and led to increased antinuclear activism down-playing the number of radiation at a crucial moment in the Cold War. 15

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 dirge for a collection of very frightened people living in the shadow of 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

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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 period in the 1960s, of almost criminal disregard for safety, this highly contaminated material was unbelievably burnt off and spread over the nearby fields.

Winds 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 village since 1954 and loved it. It was such a beautiful place. Geoff used to go salmon fishing in got our heads together we discovered that the the River Eden at the bottom of the village and he problem was much worse than we imagined. used to say it was the ideal place to live.

Almost every house in the village seemed to "He was such an independent man and very fit..a big, have been affected at one time or another. strong man whio had never been ill. He was only in "It seemed that every time someone got ill it was his early fifties when he began to complain of cancer. It just seemed to spread and spread." stomach pains.

An investigation "When cancer was carried out at the diagnosed Geoff time, using just couldn't cope official medical with it. He couldn't believe that records and death something like that certificates could happen to revealed that at him. He was in least 10 people terrible, terrible had died of rare pain and he became cancers over a 20a different person yr period to the lovely man I beginning in had known.

1974.

"He suffered a In that same dramatic weight period only three loss and had to be propped up with people from the huge cushions village had died because his bones of other causes were swticking such as heart through. He attacks. The Etterby next to the site of the former MU14 RAF base became very investigation also difficult, but it was discovered that in that same period three more only because of the pain." people, who had subsequently left the village, Significantly by the time Geoff died concern about had died of cancer. the number of cancer incidents in the village was And more tellingly three people died of the already being openly expressed. blood cancers, leukeamia, with one more battling People started gathering on street corners, talking in the disease. One had the further complication of whispers, very often afraid to air their true feelings.

Said Doreen: "But I was too grief-stricken to take multiple myeloma, a condition firmly linked to much notice. My whole world had come tumbling 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

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.

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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

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Moral injury: the key to justice for nuclear veterans Over the years, I have

By listened to dozens of Ceri British, US and Marsh 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.

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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.

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

FISSIONLINE FOUNDING FATHERS

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Fissionline is an independent newspaper with no official ties or affiliations. If you've got something to say, or a story to tell contact us on:07801 184011 fissionline@gmail.com 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 Watson won't be the first, and certainly not the last Bramhall was one of the most outstanding military MP, to use the veterans to virtue signal that deep figure of the last century. He was awarded the down he is a decent chap. And he certainly needs Military Cross for valour in Germany, witnessed the something to improve his image after the fiasco of horrors of Belsen the notorious Met Police's 'Operation concentration camp.

Midland' scandal into a supposed Ironically, he ended the war Establishment child sex ring. by being part of one of the Watson was handed the dubious sobriquet of first military units walking "Nonce-finder General" after he gave among the ruins of vociferous support to an evil fantacist (now Lord Tom Watson Hiroshima where he saw, at thankfully jailed for a very long time) who first hand, the aftermath of falsely accused prominent figures like the atomic warfare. late PM Edward Heath and former Home Secretary In that sense he was a nuclear veteran which makes Leon Brittan of being part of a gang of prominent it even more galling that Watson should now be figures that raped and even murdered children in the trying to rehabilitate himself by advocating for our most appalling circumstances. nuclear veterans.

Spurred on by Watson, a powerful political figure at I wonder if Watson considered any of this as he set the time, the Met Police, without even carrying out about setting the storm-troopers of the Met on such the most basic enquiries, trashed the homes of an heroic figure as he sat at home with his wife Brittan and another Tory MP in their search for enjoying a well-earned retirement. clues. Of course they found nothing and were later

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

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