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CAMPAIGN Winter 2021
Now, onto the topic of rigour. The words ‘challenging’ and ‘rigorous’ are semantically linked and as adjectives both words can be used interchangeably; a synonym of challenging is rigorous. Therefore, based on the above information from the AMSC, it appears that service at the nuclear tests has successfully met the criteria of both risk and rigour.
So, what has the BNTVA done about this response?
We have:
• Written to the Lead Supporters who backed our application to ask for questions to be raised in the House of Commons.
• Written to the Prime Minister, Ben Wallace MP, Leo Docherty MP (Office of Veterans’ Affairs) and Baroness Goldie requesting meetings immediately after Recess (the House of Commons returns on 5 January 2022).
• Submitted a complaint to the Cabinet Office.
We attach the 2021 medal submission to see if you think the BNTVA has demonstrated the risk and rigour involved in the atmospheric testing. Unfortunately, we don’t have the space to include the six actual case studies and nineteen documents submitted to the AMSC.
Feel free to contact your MPs concerning the AMSC’s response. We will continue to seek recognition for our veterans and their families, and we urge you to disbelieve those who say otherwise.
BNTVA Medal application 2021
Introduction
British service personnel, government scientists and civilians participated in nuclear tests and associated radiation clean-ups between 1952-1967. These operations involved at least 21,357 British service personnel from the Royal Air Force, Army, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (Public Health England 2021). The tests and clean-ups took place at the Montebello Islands, Maralinga and Emu Field, Australia, Christmas and Malden Islands.
On 31 December 2017, 7,301 of these British nuclear test participants were alive (Public Health England 2021).
The British Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association (BNTVA) was formed in 1983 by British nuclear test veterans and exists as the charity to provide wellbeing support for nuclear test veterans and their families, promote and conduct research into the health effects of ionizing radiation, and preserve the legacy of the nuclear tests. The Trustees are often informed of the British nuclear test participants passing away, and regularly loan the BNTVA coffin drapes for veterans’ funerals at the request of their families.
This application is unique in nature as the British nuclear testing was led by the UK government, involving thousands of serving personnel from the Combined Services, AWRE scientists, Canadian, New Zealand, Fijian and Australian service personnel and civilians. In military terms, the adversary was the Soviet Union, yet the fighting was not arm-to-arm combat. The race was on to develop the nuclear deterrent and prepare for a new and mighty once-and-for-all psychological, dramatic and global method of warfare which had been introduced at Hiroshima.
Historical context of Britain’s nuclear testing
Prior to the Second World War, Britain was at the forefront of pioneering research into nuclear physics. During the war, the theoretical concept of an atomic bomb was postulated by the Frisch-Peierls memorandum in 1940. This was followed up by the MAUD Committee report (1941), which advanced the weapon development programmes run by Britain (Tube Alloys) and the United States (Manhattan Project), though the two programmes operated separately until the Quebec Agreement (1943). Working jointly at Los Alamos laboratory, the first atomic bombs were designed, and the “gadget” was successfully tested at the Trinity site on 16 July 1945. The Potsdam Conference 17 July-2 August was a meeting of the USA, the USSR and Britain, during which a proclamation defining terms for Japanese surrender was issued on 26 July 1945. This contained the threat, “We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction”. Japan chose to ignore the proclamation and, on the 6 August 1945, President Truman ordered the bombing of Hiroshima with an atomic bomb, and again on Nagasaki, 9 August 1945.