Test Site workers’ screening continues

Friday, Dec. 6, 2002 | 9:22 a.m.

A total of 62 former Nevada Test Site workers or their families have received compensation for illnesses related to their work at the nuclear weapons proving ground during the Cold War.

Physicians and specialists from Boston and San Francisco are spending today in Las Vegas to continue monitoring Test Site workers who volunteer for medical screening.

Most of the 62 claims paid by the federal government so far to former Test Site workers cover silicosis, a disease that appeared as spots in the lungs on X-rays during the screenings, said Sandie Medina, project coordinator for the NTS Medical Surveillance Project.

"Many of the former Test Site workers live in Utah and New Mexico," Medina said, but they come to Las Vegas for screening.

The project is coordinated by the Energy Department, the Family Medicine Program of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, and Boston University.

Silicosis is caused by particles of dust that became airborne as workers carved underground tunnels for testing nuclear weapons at the site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The screening program is offered to former DOE workers who volunteer, Medina said. A screening scheduled for spring has 50 workers who will be re-screened and 200 new employees who have never been screened, she said.

Two claims, including a lump sum payment of $150,000 to widow Dorothy Clayton, covered radiation sickness, Medina said. Clayton received notice in October that her claim had been accepted on behalf of her late husband Glenn Clayton, who worked on recovery teams in the testing tunnels after nuclear weapons experiments.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who led the battle to compensate thousands of Energy Department workers, said he planned to observe the medical screening project today.

Reid is trying to raise awareness of the project and the resources available to former Test Site workers, Dr. Lewis Pepper, the principal investigator on the project, said.