Two British lawyers plan to visit New Zealand to interview veterans who witnessed nuclear testing in the Pacific nearly 50 years ago.
Nuclear Test Veterans Association chairman Roy Sefton said the lawyers planned to visit between November 25 and December 1.
But their trip depended on the British Legal Services Commission approving legal aid.
"From what we understand it's pretty likely they'll come," Mr Sefton said.
The commission met last Tuesday, and would give its legal aid decisions soon.
About 551 New Zealand naval men witnessed nine nuclear detonations during Operation Grapple at Christmas Island and in the Malden Islands in Kiribati during 1957 and 1958.
About 220 of the men, who served on the vessels HMNZS Pukaki and HMNZS Rotoiti, are still alive, now aged between 61 and 89.
They and veterans from Britain and Fiji have taken a case of "negligence of service" against the British Government, Mr Sefton said.
The two lawyers hoped to interview nuclear test veterans, their widows and their families, probably
at meetings in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Palmerston North.
Research into radiation-induced DNA damage among test veterans has started at Massey University's Institute of Molecular Sciences.
Mr Sefton said the $163,000 research project would take about a year.
- NZPA
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