American nuclear bomber crash workers case passes first Brussels hurdle (Diana Wallis MEP)

Diana Wallis MEP <info@dianawallismep.org.uk>

American nuclear bomber crash workers case passes first Brussels hurdle

March 27, 2007 5:00 PM

B52 The Petitions Committee in the European Parliament today, Tuesday 27 March, has overwhelmingly voted to support Liberal Democrat MEP, Diana Wallis's, report on the public health consequences of the 1968 Thule crash (Petition 720/2002).

The report is a response to the complaints bought forward by representatives of workers who cleared up a radioactive mess in the wake of an American nuclear bomber crash in the 1960s.

In 1968 a recovery team of including of local Greenlanders brought debris back from the crash site of an American Air Force B-52 bomber near Thule in northern Greenland. The accident happened when the plane caught fire and the crew bailed out before the plane crashed through the ice.

Since then workers in the recovery team have been seeking recognition and assistance from the Danish government. They have been unsuccessful so far and have taken their case to the European Parliament's Petitions Committee.

Following the meeting Diana Wallis MEP said:

"I am very pleased the Petitions Committee has, in effect, overwhelmingly supported the victims - they have been treated pretty poorly over the years."

"A decision has been made today that at EU level we do truly wish to see victims of nuclear incidents protected in line with the appropriate directive entitling victims to proper medical monitoring for exposure to radiation. This has never happened in a systematic way in this incident."

"This case also raises an important issue about the effectiveness of the EURATOM Treaty which will be debated by the European Parliament at the same time as this report in the plenary."

The report will now be voted on by the full plenary of the European Parliament in May.

Notes:

The American defence department did not release details of the Thule crash for 18 hours. It feared "serious political difficulties" with Denmark over the crash.

The Danish authorities, which control Greenland, were informed in 1965 that the Americans had been storing nuclear weapons at Thule - against their wishes.

Although Thule was no longer used as a weapons store, it was still embarrassing for the US to admit planes carrying nuclear weapons were regularly flying in Danish airspace.

It took 700 men over nine months to remove all the contaminated material including snow from the crash site.

America subsequently ended the airborne alert which kept some B-52 bombers in the air at all times in case of surprise nuclear attack.