U.S. to Pay Thousands for Radiation Exposure - Post

["Lieskovsky, Miro" <MLieskovsky@nbpower.com>]

Group:
The following article was pasted from 'my.yahoo' ... FYI.

All due credits given.

Regards.

Miroslav Lieskovský
Health Physicist
NB POWER - PLGS
P.O. BOX 600
Lepreau, N.B.
Canada, E5J 2S6
Tel. (506) 659 7421
Fax. (506) 659 6981
mailto:mlieskovsky@nbpower.com
http://www.nbpower.com


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Wednesday April 12 2:24 AM ET 
U.S. to Pay Thousands for Radiation Exposure - Post
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government, vowing to ''right the wrongs of
the past,'' will unveil plans Wednesday to pay at least $400 million to
compensate thousands of ailing workers who were exposed to radiation while
building the nation's nuclear arsenal, the Washington Post reported.

The newspaper said it had obtained a draft of the unprecedented national
compensation plan, which would offer payments of $100,000 to workers with
certain cancers.

Any government move to offer compensation would be its first tangible
acknowledgment of responsibility for decades of unsafe working conditions in
dozens of nuclear bomb factories around the country.

Thousands of other workers would receive help in applying for compensation
under liberalized policies that reverse decades of government antagonism to
workers' medical claims, the Post said.

  
 In addition, workers would receive the benefit of the doubt when plant
medical records are missing or flawed, the draft states. ``The government is
done fighting workers and now we're going to help them,'' the Post quoted
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson as saying as he confirmed details of the
plan crafted by the White House National Economic Council.

``We're reversing the decades-old practice of opposing worker claims and
moving forward to do the right thing.''

The plan would cost the federal government an estimated $400 million over
the first five years, officials familiar with the plan told the Post. After
that, the cost is expected to decline as cases are settled.

The production of 70,000 nuclear weapons over 50 years employed more than
600,000 men and women at 16 major sites and dozens of smaller ones. Workers
have testified in a series of recent hearings that they were frequently
exposed to high levels of radiation as well as hazardous chemicals.

The U.S. government in January confirmed for the first time that nuclear
weapons workers exposed to radiation and chemicals experienced
high-than-expected cancer rates, reversing years in which the government
minimized the dangers of exposure to radiation.

Under the plan, parts of which need congressional approval, the Energy
Department would set up a workers' advocacy office, effective next month, to
help current and former employees who believe they suffer from job-related
illnesses.

The Post said the new Occupational Illness Compensation Office would
expedite claims, using independent physicians to determine if illnesses are
work-related. Once a link was clear, DOE would accept responsibility for the
illness, it said.

Under a separate program, workers or survivors of workers who contracted a
``radiogenic'' cancer after being exposed to radiation on the job could
choose between a lump-sum payment of $100,000 or a negotiated compensation
package that covers all medical costs as well as lost wages and job
retraining.

Common radiogenic cancers include leukemias and myelomas as well as cancers
of the bone, lung and thyroid.

While the lump-sum payment would be offered only to workers diagnosed with
cancer before the compensation plan is enacted into law, all workers exposed
to radiation would be eligible to apply for a compensation package, the Post
reported.

Identical coverage would be offered to workers exposed to beryllium, a
highly toxic metal used in making nuclear arms.

In draft remarks prepared for Wednesday's announcement, Vice President Gore
acknowledged that compensation ``cannot undo'' the suffering of injured
workers. But ``today this administration begins the process of compensating
workers for their suffering and becoming an advocate for all contract
workers no matter where they worked,'' according to the Post. 
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