Nevada Test Site Workers

Nevada Test Site Workers & Nuclear Site Workers

History of U.S. Government Created Radiation & Compensation

During the early twentieth century, thousands of workers employed in the U.S. Nuclear weapons industry program were exposed to extremely harmful toxins, chemicals, and heavy metals with high radiation levels as part of their jobs. To help compensate workers who were injured as a result of their exposure, the federal government created The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA)

Programs included a series of above-ground nuclear tests in southern Nevada known as the Nevada test site. Several other sites know as island tests in the Atlantic and the Pacific and underground nuclear testing. Besides the hazardous blasting, uranium mining and processing operations that produced fuel for atomic warheads were also in demand due to the arms race. The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission oversaw the entire program.

Decades later, U.S. lawmakers sought to address the needs of those exposed to radiation due to all these program activities. In 1990, the U.S.established a program to provide financial benefits for eligible individuals who became seriously ill as a result of the U.S. nuclear testing conducted by the U.S. or from employment in the uranium industry during the Cold War era.

Since the original law was enacted, guidelines surrounding compensation claims have been updated and revised numerous times. Including an amendment that increases coverage to include uranium mill workers and transporters of ore. Raises the “downwinders” geographic area, lowers the radiation threshold for miners, and removes certain lifestyle restrictions. Additionally, a program was added, compensating Department of Energy workers and their contractors and subcontractors. They have had cancer and worked at one of its three hundred eighty facilities in one of the thirty-eight states.

Potential Eligible Claimants Include:

Individuals from many Native American tribes
Downwinders® People who lived downwind from the Nevada test site
Atomic Veterans®
Nevada Test Site Workers On-site participants, both civilians, and military personnel
Uranium Workers Uranium industry miners, millers, and transporters
Department of Energy Workers

Who May File For Compensation Benefits:

The EEOICPA was created to compensate nuclear weapons workers employed by the Department of Energy (DOE) after 1941 and became ill due to exposure to toxic chemicals while working. Eligible individuals may obtain lump-sum payments and health benefits if they satisfy all criteria. Potential beneficiaries include current employees, former employees, contractors, and subcontractors.

If a worker has already passed, his or her surviving family members may also obtain compensation. EEOICPA is made up of two benefit plans, Part B and Part E. Under Part B, employees or their survivors may receive a lump-sum payment of up to $150,000 and reimbursement for full medical expenses. Beneficiaries under Part E can receive an even more considerable sum of 250,000 dollars. Furthermore, those who qualify under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) may also be eligible to receive a smaller sum of $50,000.

Who Is Eligible For EEOICPA Benefits:

Only workers who satisfy specific requirements can obtain compensation under the EEOICPA. A claimant must have been diagnosed with cancer or an additional illness produced by chemicals and have operated at a covered DOE facility to qualify. In Particular, an employee must have sustained one of the following illnesses while employed by a DOE facility, an atomic weapons employer, and/or a beryllium vendor.

Furthermore any surviving family member of a deceased worker may also file a claim on that person’s behalf. However, the survivor’s definition differs depending on whether a claimant is filing under Part B or Part E.

Under Part B, survivors can include any of the following individuals:

Workers Spouse - long as couple was married for at least one year
Workers Child - he/she has no living spouse
Workers Parents - he/she has no living spouse or child
Workers Grandparent - he/she has no living spouse, child, or parent
Workers Grandchild - there is no other surviving relatives.

Under Part E, survivors can include any of the following individuals:

Workers Spouse - long as couple was married for at least one year
Workers Child - he/she has no living spouse and child was younger than 18 years of age at time of parents death
Workers Child - he/she has no living spouse and child up to 23 years old was in college at time of parents death
Workers Child - he/she has no living spouse and child was unable to work due to medical disabilities at time of parents death

High Energy Radiation Exposure Causes Cancer:

Working in such locations like Nevada Test Site and other atomic test sites have given rise to such awareness to risks involving radiation.

Radiation containing ample energy to damage DNA and cause cancer is called ionizing radiation. This type of radiation was released in nuclear power plant accidents, production of, testing, and the use of the actual atomic weapon.

The evidence that ionizing radiation causes cancer comes from many studies of atomic bomb survivors and workers employed in certain professions. Some professions, such as uranium miners, transporters, and millers, just to name a few. Data suggest that any part of the body can be affected by ionizing radiation.

Most recently, fears about this type of radiation exposure extend beyond the exposed individual’s health risk. This fear has expanded to possibly impact the children, grandchildren, and spouses of these exposed workers.

Future studies involving Nevada Test Site workers and their families may help link certain congenital conditions and health risks like cancer back to the parent or grandparent who was initially exposed to the radiation. These studies are on going.

Cancers & Illnesses Covered By U.S. Government Cancer Benefit Programs

There are a broad variety of cancers and illnesses covered by the numerous United States Government cancer benefit programs. Due to the vast amounts of different types of exposure ranging from being downwind at a Nevada Test Site, or just transporting uranium this list is still possibly growing.

Note: Not all cancers and illnesses are covered by all benefit programs. For more information about these programs please follow the corresponding link below:

Covered Cancers & Other Illnesses May Include:

Bile Duct Cancer
Bladder Cancer
Bone Cancer
Brain Cancer
Breast Cancer (male and female)
Chronic Beryllium Disease
Colon Cancer
Cor Pulmonale
Esophagus Cancer
Fibrosis
Kidney Cancer
Kidney Disease
Larynx Cancer
Leukemias (Except for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, or CLL)
Liver Cancer (Unless Evidence of Cirrhosis or Hepatitis B Exists)

Lung Cancer
Lymphomas (Except for Hodgkin's Disease)
Multiple Myeloma
Nasal Pharynx Cancer
Other Lung Illnesses
Ovarian Cancer
Pancreas Cancer
Pneumoconiosis
Salivary Gland Cancer
Silicosis
Small Intestine Cancer
Stomach Cancer
Throat Cancer
Thyroid Cancer

Program Benefits:

Part B:

Employees of the Department of Energy (DOE), its contractors or subcontractors, and atomic weapons employers with radiation-induced cancer if:
the employee developed cancer after working at a covered facility of the Department of Energy, its contractors and subcontractors; and
the employee's cancer is determined at least as likely as not related to that employment in accordance with guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, or
the employee is determined to be a member of the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) (employees who worked at least 250 days before February 1, 1992, for the Department of Energy or its contractors or subcontractors at one or more of the three Gaseous Diffusion Plants located at Oak Ridge, TN, Paducah, KY or Portsmouth, OH, or who were exposed to radiation related to certain underground nuclear tests at Amchitka, AK, or who qualify as a member of one of the additional SEC classes added by the Secretary of Health and Human Services as provided for under the Act) and developed one of certain specified cancers
Compensation of $150,000 and payment of medical expenses from the date a claim is filed is available to:
Employees of the Department of Energy, its contractors and subcontractors, and designated beryllium vendors who worked at covered facilities where they were exposed to beryllium produced or processed for the Department of Energy who developed Chronic Beryllium Disease; and
Employees of the Department of Energy or its contractors and subcontractors who worked at least 250 days during the mining of tunnels at underground nuclear weapons tests sites in Nevada or Alaska and who developed chronic silicosis.

If the employee is no longer living, the compensation is payable to eligible survivors.

Compensation of $50,000 and payment of medical expenses from the date a claim is filed is available for :

Employees of the Department of Energy, its contractors and subcontractors who were exposed to beryllium on the job and now have beryllium sensitivity will receive medical monitoring to check for Chronic Beryllium Disease

Part E:

Compensation and payment of medical expenses is available to employees of DOE contractors and subcontractors, or their survivors, who develop an illness due to exposure to toxic substances at certain DOE facilities. Uranium miners, millers, and ore transporters are also eligible for benefits if they develop an illness as a result of toxic exposure and worked at a facility covered under Section 5 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). Under Part E, a toxic substance is not limited to radiation but includes things such as chemicals, solvents, acids and metals.

Variable compensation up to $250,000 is determined based on wage loss, impairment, and survivor-ship.

Wage loss is based on the number of years that the employee was unable to work or sustained a reduction in earnings as a result of the illness. Wage loss compensation is payable for years of lost wages that are prior to regular Social Security Retirement age (usually age 65). Wage loss compensation is calculated at:
- $10,000 for each year in which wages were 25-50% less than the Average Annual Wage (AAW). The AAW is the average earnings for the 12 quarters (36 months) prior to the first quarter of wage loss.
- $15,000 for each year in which wages were less than 50% of the AAW
Impairment is a decrease in the functioning of a body part or organ as it affects the whole body, as a result of the illness. An impairment rating is performed once the claimant has reached Maximum Medical Improvement (i.e. the condition is stabilized and is unlikely to improve with additional medical treatment). Impairment compensation is calculated at:
- $2500 for each one percent of whole body impairment
Survivor benefits include compensation of at least $125,000.
- If the employee sustained wage loss as a result of the covered illness, and that wage loss was prior to Social Security Retirement age (usually age 65), additional compensation may be awarded as follows:
  - $0 — if the employee had less than 10 years of wage loss
  - $25,000 – if the employee had between 10 and 19 years of wage loss or
  - $50,000 — if the employee had 20 years or more wage loss
    Total survivor compensation not to exceed $175,000.

Eligible survivors may receive compensation if the employee’s death was caused, contributed to or aggravated by the covered illness. Eligible survivors include:

A spouse who was married to the employee for at least one year prior to his/her death.

If there is no surviving spouse, then compensation may be awarded to a covered child if, at the time of the employee’s death, the child was:

Medical expenses are not included in the $250,000 cap.

Under the age of 18
Under the age of 23 years and a full-time student continuously enrolled in an educational institution, or
Incapable of self support

Nevada Test Site Workers