Tony M, I’m sorry about your services friends. A friend of mine lost a friend of his when Thatcher enthusiastically chose war over the Falkland Islands.
Yes, it is unlikely that the effects of various battlefield toxins will ever be sorted out. War is bad for our health; it’s such a truism that I hesitated to type it.
My attitude to nuclear power has changed over the years. A friend of mine pointed out that a single power reactor contains a similar quantity of radioactive material as would be released in an entire global nuclear conflict. There are some 440 power reactors on Earth, most near sea level, which is rising; these must be shut down and defuelled. And I used to think that wind and solar couldn’t supply enough power, but more recent rapid development is proving otherwise. But we still need continent-scale high voltage grid.
I oppose nuclear weapons and dinosaur power reactors and but not nuclear technology in general, eg. research reactors produce isotopes essential for imaging, medicine and industry. And it’s always important to get facts right and not exaggerate, or when bystanders present our complaints to the technical community the reply they’ll get is “well that’s just bollox, these people must be crazy”.