Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Wife of NTS worker to be compensated

After two years of waiting and wading through red tape, Dorothy Clayton, widow of a Nevada Test Site worker, is finally about to receive her due under a federal benefits program designed to compensate Cold War workers who got sick or died assembling nuclear weapons.

"It's been more than two years, but I received the letter today," Clayton said on Wednesday from her Tennessee home.

After a long fight to have her husband's death acknowledged by the government as linked to his work at the Test Site, Clayton will receive $150,000 from the Energy Department.

The claim is among the first of former Test Site workers to be settled by the Energy Department.

Congress approved a nuclear workers compensation program in July 2001, after the Energy Department officially admitted -- after decades of denials -- that weapons workers in sites all over the nation may have become sick or died as a result of their labor. The program provides $150,000, plus payment of medical expenses, to employees who worked for the Energy Department and its contractors in the development, testing and production of nuclear weapons. The Labor Department is leading the effort to process claims and administer the complex program with the help of the Energy, Health and Human Services and Justice departments.

The department has received 34,971 claims filed by nuclear workers from across the country.

As of last week the Labor Department has paid national benefits totaling nearly $363 million, much of it to workers exposed to toxins such as dust and beryllium at Energy Department facilities in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Paducah, Ky. Another $3.9 million has been paid for workers' medical bills.

Clayton is one of 59 Test Site workers or family members to receive compensation so far, a Labor Department spokeswoman said today.

Clayton's husband, Glenn Clayton, died in June 1999 after suffering from five forms of cancer. The government had acknowledged to Dorothy Clayton that his lung and bladder cancers could have been caused by radiation exposure, based on records found among 1,370 pages of former secret documents kept by the Energy Department.

While conducting nuclear weapons experiments at the site 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the employees claimed they became ill after being exposed to radiation, dust or beryllium, a metal used in nuclear weapons.

Dorothy Clayton said her husband, a 30-year veteran of the Test Site, led crews into the underground tunnels after nuclear tests to retrieve monitors and equipment.

More than 1,000 former Test Site workers or their families have now applied for benefits, said Bob Agonia, director of the Las Vegas Resource Center, set up to help smooth the local application process. As many as 10,000 men and women worked on weapons testing at the site from 1951 until experiments ended in 1992.

Many workers have been frustrated with what they consider an inefficient process.

Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev., helped Clayton find the records. Reid visited Clayton's home and heard Dorothy's story in person during May 2000.

Reid has tried to speed up the bureaucratic process. He inserted legislation into a bill for the next fiscal year that boosts from three to 75 the number of Labor Department workers processing claims.

"Despite the often frustrating path, Dorothy Clayton has worked tirelessly to see justice served," Reid said.

"While no amount of money can compensate for a lost one, I am pleased that workers and their families are finally starting to receive the medical care and the compensation they are due."

After successfully navigating a series frustrating bureaucratic snares, Clayton urged other widows and family members to keep pushing for benefits.

"Never give up," she said.

For more information or to schedule an appointment to file a claim, call the center at (702) 697-0841 or toll-free at (866) 697-0841.

Sun reporter

Benjamin Grove contributed to this story.

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