I might apply for a posthumous medal for my Dad who flew through a mushroom cloud in 1958. He died in 2009 aged 77, so not really old but for his generation........ He had an unusual cancer, but also smoked a pipe for 60 odd years ...... His pilot on that trip was at his funeral and apparently fit and well.
Don't know what to glean from all of that. Also, although when alive he had immense sympathy for those who had no choice but to be there (and should be recognised and compensated) he took the view that he and his fellow aircrew were all volunteers and didn't feel he had the right to any special treatment.
rgds