Veterans win bid for nuclear tests study

Veterans of Britain's nuclear tests carried out off Australia's coast in the Pacific Ocean have won their bid for an independent study into the toll on their health.

Many of the 22,000 former soldiers who witnessed the secret tests in the 1950s and 1960s suffered a range of illnesses after being exposed to radiation. About 3000 are still alive.

Britain's Under-Secretary of Defence Derek Twigg said the Government had agreed in principle to fund a £412,000 ($1 million) independent study into the health effects suffered by the veterans, the Sunday Mirror reported.