Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Seven decades after Britain detonated a nuclear bomb in the Indian Ocean, troops who took part — sometimes unknowingly — in the country’s atomic weapons tests are being recognized with a medal.
The announcement was made to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the first UK nuclear test. [2] In July 2023, the design of the new medal was released, with a commitment that many eligible veterans would receive their medals by Remembrance Sunday in November 2023.
Some 22,000 veterans and civilians are expected to be eligible for the honour.
Operation Grapple was a set of four series of British nuclear weapons tests of early atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs carried out in 1957 and 1958 at Malden Island and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific Ocean (modern Kiribati) as part of the British hydrogen bomb programme.
An estimated 22,000 veterans and civilians will be eligible for the Nuclear Test Medal, which has been introduced to mark the 70th anniversary of the nation’s first atomic test, Downing Street said.
An atomic veteran is a veteran who was exposed to ionizing radiation while present in the site of a nuclear explosion during active duty.The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs defines an atomic veteran "who, as part of his or her military service: Participated in an above-ground nuclear test, 1945–1962; or was part of the U.S. military occupation forces in/around Hiroshima/Nagasaki before ...
A second requirement for a light-weight bomb arose with the British Government's decision in July 1954 to proceed with a British hydrogen bomb programme. [61] Hydrogen bombs required an atomic bomb as a primary, and one was incorporated in the British hydrogen bomb design, known as Green Granite. [59]
It comes on the 70th anniversary of Operation Hurricane, which saw the UK become the world’s third nuclear power. Government unveils plan to commemorate nuclear test programme veterans Skip to ...