Gov't Settles Ohio Radiation Lawsuit

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Friday June 11 1:16 AM ET 

Gov't Settles Ohio Radiation Lawsuit

MIAMISBURG, Ohio (AP) - The U.S. Department of Energy has 
settled a lawsuit by hundreds of nuclear weapons plant employees 
who say they were exposed to dangerous radiation and not told 
about it for years.  

The department agreed to pay lifetime health insurance coverage 
for as many as 1,800 current and former workers at the Mound 
nuclear plant in the Dayton suburbs. The deal, subject to approval 
by a federal judge, is expected to cost several million dollars, 
depending on insurance costs.  

The deal requires the Energy Department to provide the coverage to 
Mound workers who contract any of several types of cancer, 
including brain, nervous system, bladder, bone, lung, pancreatic, 
digestive and oral cancers.  

The plant began operating in 1948 and made triggers and 
detonators for nuclear weapons. The Energy Department has 
halted those operations to focus on cleaning up waste at the site, 
which officials want to convert into an office park.  

Twelve employees and the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers union 
filed the lawsuit in 1995.

The settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing. Energy 
Secretary Bill Richardson said it is intended to address the 
workers' worries about what radiation exposure may have done to 
them.  

The defendants were former plant operator EG&G Mound Applied 
Technologies Inc. and its predecessor, Monsanto Research Corp. 
The Energy Department provided the plant  
contract.

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Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

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