VA seeks payments for ‘atomic veterans’

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2000 | 11:32 a.m.

Coverage questions

For further information about the expanded Department of Veterans Affairs coverage for "atomic veterans":

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Public Affairs:

(202) 273-5700

Department of Energy Hotline:

(877) 447-9756

Website:

va.gov

More veterans exposed to radiation during atomic bomb blasts at the Nevada Test Site and other locations around the world may be eligible for compensation from the federal government for their illnesses.

The Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday proposed adding five types of cancer to the list that automatically make the so-called "atomic veterans" eligible for benefits.

Exposed vets with cancers of the bone, brain, colon, lungs or ovaries will find it easier to receive compensation for their illnesses if the changes are approved, Hershel W. Gober, acting secretary of Veterans Affairs, said on Wednesday.

An estimated 200,000 military personnel were exposed to radiation. There is no cost estimate for covering the additional cancers at this time.

The changes put veterans and federal civilians who are eligible for compensation on equal footing, Gober said. Civilians who developed the five types of cancer have been eligible for benefits since 1988.

"Veterans who were injured by radiation during their military service should receive fair and appropriate compensation," Gober said. "No less than veterans who were wounded on the battlefield, they earned the VA's support and the nation's gratitude."

The proposal applies to veterans who participated in "radiation-risk activities" while on active duty, during training or as a member of a reserve unit.

Such activities include the occupation of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, internment as a prisoner of war in Japan, or onsite involvement in atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, such as those at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The regulations stem from the nuclear compensation act signed by President Clinton in July. The act was designed to compensate contract workers at nuclear weapons facilities who have developed cancers and other illnesses, but the VA is proposing applying the law to the atomic veterans who were ignored.

The Labor, Justice and Energy departments must approve the changes, then develop rules for veterans to apply for compensation. Application forms should be available after July 31.

The Veterans Affairs Department estimates that fewer than 50 claims out of 18,000 filed were based on exposure to radiation from occupying Hiroshima or Nagasaki or witnessing blasts at the Test Site or in the Pacific Islands.

Also included in the proposal is exposure to radiation from underground nuclear tests at Amchitka Island, Alaska, before Jan. 1, 1974, and service at gaseous diffusion plants in Paducah, Ky., Portsmouth, Ohio, and Area K25 in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

In 1988 Congress established presumption of service-connected illnesses for 13 cancers in veterans exposed to radiation. Congress later amended that to include 16 cancers.

The cancers include leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia), cancer of the thyroid, breast, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, gall bladder, bile ducts, salivary gland or urinary tract, multiple myeloma, lymphomas (except Hodgkin's disease), primary cancer of the liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated) and bronchiolo-aveolar carcinoma.

Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., tried to add three new cancers -- lung, ovarian and brain/central nervous system -- to the veterans' list in 1998, but the legislation failed.