GAP Supports House Bill to Reform Nuclear Weapons Workers Compensation Program

Bipartisan bill adds illnesses, reforms failing DOE's compensation program and speeds payments

Contacts: Richard Miller, 413-536-3858, Leinaala Ley, 202/408-0034

For Release: April 11, 2003

Washington, DC"The Government Accountability Project ("GAP"), a national whistleblower and worker advocacy group, applauds the introduction of the Reform of Energy Workers Compensation Act (REWCA)"a bill to reform and improve the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA). This law is supposed to provide benefits and medical payments for workers made ill from work in the government's nuclear weapons production program over the past 50 years.

Over the past 2 ½ years the Department of Energy has not met the statutory goal of providing "timely, uniform and fair compensation" for workers who were exposed to toxic substances at DOE nuclear weapons facilities and made ill.  

DOE has received 15,000 + claims requesting assistance with state worker compensation for occupational illnesses, but as of today has processed only 16 claims through its Physicians' Panels for a determination, and none of these claims have yet been paid.  

As many as half of the valid claims will not have a "willing payor" through the states, leaving most claimants stymied in Ohio, Kentucky, Nevada, Colorado, Alaska, Missouri and Iowa, as well as subgroups in New Mexico and Idaho. The bill imposes a 180-day time limit on DOE for processing claims, and designates the Department of Labor as the payor for all claims approved by DOE Physicians' Panels.   Payments will be made from a fund in DOL using a uniform federal benefit level. Workers in Special Exposure Cohorts in OH, TN, KY, AK  will receive a presumption under the DOE program similar to the one they already receive from the Department of Labor.

"The Administration knows DOE's program is in grave need of reform," noted Richard Miller, GAP Policy Analyst. " The 20 cosponsors of this legislation--led by Representatives Strickland (D-OH) and Whitifeld (R-KY))--are stepping in to try to fill the policy vacuum, and should be commended for their bold and creative initiative to make sure deserving nuclear workers do not wind up in a government program which turns their hopes into another disappointment."

Occupational illnesses related to radiation, beryllium and silica exposure are now administered by the Department of Labor, and radiation dose estimates needed for deciding cancer claims are performed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). To date over 40,000 claims have been received by the Department of Labor for radiation related cancers, beryllium illnesses and silicosis. DOL has decided over 20,000 claims for nuclear workers and uranium miners, and benefit payments totaling $528 million have been awarded.

"DOL has been speedy and efficient in administering its portion of the compensation program," noted Miller. "These talents should be brought to bear on a portion program now assigned to the Department of Energy."

Workers who were employed in vendor facilities that remained contaminated with significant amounts of radioactive compounds and beryllium long after the facility ceased performing work for the government's nuclear weapons programs have not been eligible to apply for compensation.  Such claimants have been exposed to cold war legacy hazards, but denied access to help for their illnesses.  The bill closes this loophole.

NIOSH has a backlog of over 12,000 requests to prepare radiation dose estimates, and the backlog is growing by the day.  A number of DOE Field offices have been slow in getting radiation exposure records to NIOSH so they can estimate workers' radiation doses. The bill sets a maximum 150 day time frame for DOE records to be retrieved and transferred.  The bill sets a 180 day time frame for NIOSH to prepare dose estimates.  If these time frames are not met, those workers with one of 22 "radiogenic" cancers who may have been endangered from their work will be presumptively compensated.

"The bill's sponsors properly recognize that justice delayed is justice denied," added Miller, a long time advocate for nuclear workers.  "More than 2-1/2 years have passed since the law was enacted. Without meaningful reforms, claimants will be waiting years, if not an eternity, for a small measure of justice."

The bill also expands the list of covered illnesses. It provides lump sum benefits and medical costs for workers with chronic renal disease who had significant uranium exposure.  Congress currently compensates uranium millers and ore transporters under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. This bill would provide parity.

The bill provides benefits to workers who contract lung cancer from exposure to beryllium--a metal widely used in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.  Presently the law only provides benefits for chronic beryllium disease. Beryllium is a known human lung carcinogen, and its effect is independent of smoking.

"Members of Congress have taken an important first step toward making sure that the government honors its commitments to workers who have been made ill from ultra-hazardous work conducted for the national defense in nuclear weapons laboratories and factories,"added Miller. "The sponsors of this legislation should be applauded for working to assure that the "veterans of the cold war" will not be left out in the cold."