Clinton OKs payments for ill nuclear workers

Friday, Dec. 8, 2000 | 10:47 a.m.

President Clinton signed an executive order on Thursday that offers broad-based compensation to nuclear workers with job-related illnesses at Department of Energy facilities, including the Nevada Test Site.

The first payments of $150,000 and medical benefits for up to 4,000 eligible workers could be awarded by the end of next year after workers or their families file claims when the forms become available after July 31.

Clinton's order covers thousands of people who were exposed to radiation or hazardous chemicals while building the nation's nuclear arsenal. About 600,000 people have worked on nuclear weapons in DOE facilities such as the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, since the 1940s. More than 1,000 nuclear weapons experiments exploded above and below Nevada's desert from 1951 until 1992.

"Thousands of these courageous Americans, however, paid a high price for their service, developing disabling or fatal illnesses as a result of exposure to beryllium, ionizing radiation and other hazards unique to nuclear weapons production and testing," Clinton said in the order.

"Existing workers' compensation programs have failed to provide for the needs of these workers and their families," Clinton said.

The order may extend benefits to DOE contract workers, those exposed to beryllium and silica and uranium miners, but those decisions will be handled by the next administration.

Workers who mined tunnels at the Test Site were exposed to silica from the dust during drilling.

In October Congress appropriated a quarter of the estimated $1 billion the program could cost in its first five years. The congressional version of the compensation program is weaker than the president's directive. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and other Republicans objected to the costs and other issues such as which workers would be covered.

Clinton's order details many concerns raised by the administration, labor leaders and lawmakers such as Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, both D-Nev., with DOE facilities in their states.

The Department of Labor will determine the eligibility of those seeking claims and will adjudicate claims. Clinton put the responsibility in the Labor Department to isolate any taint from a program run by the DOE.

Labor Secretary Alexis Herman promised to set up a special unit within the Office of Workers Compensation Programs to oversee the new claims program.

The Labor Department has experience operating compensation programs, but a compensation package for uranium miners is run by the Justice Department. So the president's directive is a major victory for labor leaders.

The Department of Health and Human Services has responsibility for determining the scientific chance that workers seeking claims contracted cancer on the job; estimate radiation doses for workers whose exposure records are missing or inadequate and is responsible for setting up a physicians' review panel to evaluate the claims.

The DOE must provide all information about workers' exposures, including any "restricted" data to help the workers prove their claims.

The president's order also establishes a 20-member Advisory Board on Radiation and Health, with members including workers and their representatives, for advising government agencies on medical and scientific issues related to radiation exposure.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson apologized on April 12 to workers and the communities hosting DOE facilities. He termed the compensation package "one of the most meaningful" new federal programs that will affect thousands of Americans.