Knoxville News Sentinel
January 27, 2005

Children of sick DOE workers see no cash
By BOB FOWLER, fowlerb@knews.com
January 27, 2005

OAK RIDGE - Veronica Ludlow of Knoxville says she has a word for a change
in the program that allows federal compensation to sick nuclear workers and
their survivors: absurd.

Ludlow said her father, Alvin Ludlow, died of what she said were
job-related cancers after working at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge
facilities for more than 30 years.

 She said she filed for survivor's benefits when the Department of Energy
had jurisdiction of the program and has yet to receive a payment.

"I've been fighting these yo-yos for two-and-a-half years,'' she said
Wednesday during a town hall meeting on the program.

Now that part of the program has been shifted to the U.S. Department of
Labor, survivors' benefits have been limited to those 23 years old or
younger, she said.

"Do the math!'' said the 57-year-old Ludlow. "My father worked at the
plants from 1946 to 1974.'' No employee who worked in the plants then would
have surviving children that young, she said.

"It's simply not right,'' she said.

Ludlow and others attending the second of three town hall meetings on the
changes expressed their frustrations with the previous program as well as
concerns about the new system.

"This is a nonadversarial program,'' Peter Turcic, director of the new
Department of Labor program, told the crowd of nearly 300 gathered in the
American Museum of Science and Energy.

"We're committed to work with people,'' he said of program changes signed
into law in late 2004.

Congressional leaders upset with DOE's slow process for helping its sick
sought those changes.

Turcic said more than 23,000 cases formerly under the DOE's auspices have
now been shifted to the Department of Labor, and $500,000 in compensation
has already been paid.

"We've issued more than 100 decisions to approve benefits, and more are
being approved all the time,'' Turcic said.

Under the new program, sick workers deemed eligible for compensation will
receive a direct federal payment instead of state workers' compensation
provided by DOE, he said.

Workers suffering physical impairments because of exposure to toxic
chemicals at DOE plants will receive compensation based on the extent of
their disabilities, he said.

A person judged totally impaired would be eligible for a $250,000 payment,
he said.

Compensation for survivors of workers who died from work-related illnesses
would range from $125,000 to $175,000, he said.

Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached at
865-481-3625.

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