By Mary Manning

Fri, Jun 29, 2001 (11:18 a.m.)

Former workers who may have been exposed to radiation while employed at the Nevada Test Site as a result of nuclear weapons experiments vented decades of frustration during an information hearing Thursday night at Texas Station.

Survivors of test site workers who also attended the hearing said they fear government benefits may never relieve the losses of their husbands, fathers and sons.

Officials from the Departments of Labor and Energy tried to sort through the three key benefits available to an estimated 30,000 workers who may have been exposed to radiation, beryllium or dust during Cold War nuclear weapons experiments at the Nevada Test Site from 1951-1992.

In October Congress passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, appropriated $250 million and sent the package to the Department of Labor, which will distribute the benefits. The program covers workers exposed to beryllium, dust in underground tunnels and those with radiation-induced cancer.

"You don't need a lawyer, you don't need an accountant, all you have to do is fill out three simple forms," said Harold Glassman, Labor Department project director. A similar hearing is scheduled today from 1 to 4 p.m. at Texas Station.

Because Southern Nevada is home to so many former Test Site employees, the Labor Department is scheduled to open a resource center at 11:30 a.m. July 5 at Flamingo Executive Park, 1050 E. Flamingo Road, Suite W-156. A telephone number is not yet available.

Many who attended Thursday's hearing wondered whether they would survive long enough to fill out the forms.

Las Vegas Councilman Gary Reese arrived with his 83-year-old mother Lula, who is in a wheelchair. Nine years ago Jack Reese, Gary's father and Lula's husband, died at Desert Springs Hospital after working from 1964 to 1973 at the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Reeses have a death certificate that shows Jack Reese died as a result of silicosis, a lung disease caused by exposure to dust. Gary Reese asked officials what would happen if a family cannot locate a test site worker's medical records.

"We'd like to know in case they don't have them. Are we shut out?" he asked.

The Labor Department has been processing claims for almost 100 years, Glassman said, so if the Reese family files a claim immediately they may be eligible for a $150,000 benefit. Claims can be filed today with the Labor Department in Washington, D.C.

The Labor Department is teaming with the Department of Energy and the Health and Human Services Department to help former workers and survivors locate records of radiation exposure and medical documents.

However, those who have already filed claims under the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which pays $75,000 per worker, cannot apply for the new benefit.

A third avenue open to Test Site workers is to apply for state unemployment benefits for injuries not related to radiation.

The key to applying for any government benefit is to document as much employment history as it relates to the Nevada Test Site as possible, Kathleen Carlson, DOE's manager, said.

The DOE needs copies of death certificates, badge numbers, newspaper clippings, or anything that shows the worker was at the Test Site, Carlson said.