- To: undisclosed-recipients:;
- Subject: Sickened Nuke Workers To Get Money
- From: AOLNews@aol.com
- Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 14:50:40 EST
- Full-name: AOL News
Sickened Nuke Workers To Get Money
.c The Associated Press
By KATHERINE RIZZO
WASHINGTON (AP) - Clinton administration officials who balked at expanding a $17 million compensation offer for sickened nuclear weapons plant workers have dropped those objections, a top Energy Department official said Friday.
However, no final decision has been made on whether to offer compensation to thousands of additional people who unknowingly handled radioactive and hazardous materials while working at nuclear weapons plants, Deputy Energy Secretary T.J. Glauthier told a congressional hearing.
Glauthier confirmed that the idea of expanding the compensation program had drawn dissent from the Office of Management and Budget and the Departments of Justice and Defense.
As of this week, he said, ``Those agencies have dropped their opposition.''
The government does not yet know how many of its weapons plant workers were sickened over the last 40 years by materials they handled without proper protection.
The Energy Department has proposed spending $17 million to compensate:
Workers at any nuclear weapons facility who contracted deadly beryllium disease because of contact with that dangerous material.
Workers at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant who were exposed to plutonium and other radioactive materials.
Some Oak Ridge, Tenn. workers who contracted radiation-related diseases.
The offer did not include Paducah's sister plant in Piketon, Ohio, prompting an outcry from workers there who suffer from cancer and other illnesses that can be caused by radiation exposure.
After questioning Glauthier before the House Commerce Committee's energy and power subcommittee, Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, whose district includes Piketon, said he was still unhappy.
Glauthier ``still would not say definitively, unambiguously, that this compensation package would be extended to the Piketon workers,'' Strickland said.
``I think that is a battle that is still ongoing,'' he said. ``We're going to have to pull these people kicking and screaming to do the right thing.''
Glauthier said his department moved quickly upon confirming that Paducah workers were exposed to dangerous levels of plutonium but were never warned or given any special protection.
The department is still examining the extent to which some plutonium-laced uranium was handled at the southern Ohio plant, and the repercussions to workers' health.
So much evidence of Paducah exposure was available, Glauthier said, ``We felt we could propose compensation at the Paducah site. The question was, should we delay and do both later.''
On the Net: Written testimony from Energy Department: http://www.house.gov/commerce/
AP-NY-03-24-00 1450EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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