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The United States Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) is a federal statute providing for the monetary compensation of people, including
atomic veteran An atomic veteran is a veteran who was exposed to ionizing radiation while present in the site of a nuclear explosion during their active duty. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs defines an atomic veteran "who, as part of his or her military ...
s, who contracted
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
and a number of other specified diseases as a direct result of their exposure to atmospheric
nuclear testing Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...
undertaken by the United States during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
, or their exposure to
radon Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains th ...
gas and other radioactive isotopes while undertaking
uranium mining Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account f ...
, milling or the transportation of ore. The Act provides the following remunerations: *$50,000 to individuals residing or working "
downwind Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
" of the
Nevada Test Site The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the ...
*$75,000 for workers participating in atmospheric nuclear weapons tests *$100,000 for uranium miners, millers, and ore transporters In all cases there are additional requirements which must be satisfied (proof of exposure, establishment of duration of employment, establishment of certain medical conditions, etc.).


Origins

Attempts to enact the legislation can be traced back to the late 1970s. In its fifth draft, a Bill entitled ''Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1979'' was sponsored by Senator
Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
of Massachusetts. The Bill intended to make compensation available to persons exposed to fallout from nuclear weapons testing and for living uranium miners (or their survivors) who had worked in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona between 1 January 1947 and 31 December 1961. The Bill proposed to pay compensation to persons who lived within prescribed areas for at least a year, to persons who "died from, has or has had,
leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
,
thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck. Ca ...
,
bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thy ...
or any other
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
identified by an advisory board on the health effects of radiation and uranium exposure". Fallout areas listed by the bill included counties in Utah and Nevada. Utah counties included Millard, Sevier, Beaver, Iron, Washington, Kane, Garfiend, Piute, Wayne, San Juan, Grand, Carbon, Emery, Duchesne, Uintah, San Pete and Juab. Nevada's "affected areas" were listed as the counties of White Pine, Nye, Lander, Lincoln and Eureka. The Bill as drafted, would have also compensated ranchers whose
sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...
died following nuclear weapons tests "Harry" (13 May 1959) and "Nancy" (24 May 1953). Twelve years transpired before a similar bill was finally enacted, which added uranium miners who worked in Wyoming to the list, and extended the eligible date rate for employed miners to between 1947 and 1971. In the successful bill it was written that Congress "apologizes on behalf of the nation" to individuals who were "involuntarily subjected to increased risk of injury and disease to serve the national security interests of the United States." It was initially expected that hundreds of compensation claims would be paid under the Act, a figure which later proved to be a gross underestimate.


Implementation

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was passed by Congress on October 5, 1990, and signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on October 15. In some cases, it proved to be extremely difficult for people to receive their compensation, including cases filed by widows of uranium miners. Because many uranium miners were Native Americans, they did not have standard marriage licenses required to establish a legal connection to the deceased. In 1999, revisions were published in the
Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on fede ...
to assist in making award claims. Many mine workers and their families found the paperwork difficult and qualifications narrow and were declined compensation. In 2000, additional amendments were passed which added two new claimant categories (uranium mill and ore workers, both eligible to receive as much money as uranium miners), added additional geographic regions to the "downwinder" provisions, changed some of the recognized illnesses, and lowered the threshold radiation exposure for uranium miners. In 2002, additional amendments were passed as part of another bill, primarily fixing a number of draftsmanship errors in the previous amendments (which had accidentally removed certain geographic areas from the original act) and clarified a number of points.


Eligibility

In order to be eligible for compensation, an affected uranium industry worker must have developed
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...
, fibrosis of the lung,
pulmonary fibrosis Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failu ...
, cor pulmonale related to fibrosis of the lung,
silicosis Silicosis is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust. It is marked by inflammation and scarring in the form of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs. It is a type of pneumoconiosis. Silic ...
or
pneumoconiosis Pneumoconiosis is the general term for a class of interstitial lung disease where inhalation of dust ( for example, ash dust, lead particles, pollen grains etc) has caused interstitial fibrosis. The three most common types are asbestosis, silico ...
following their employment. In the case of uranium mill workers and ore transporters, renal cancer and chronic renal disease are also compensable conditions.


Status of claims

As of 15 July 2012, 25,804 claims under the act had been approved (with 9,869 denied), expending a total of $1,707,998,044. As of 19 November 2013, 43,068 claims were filed, 11,619 claims were denied, 748 claims were pending and 30,701 were awarded. These numbers did not include the Marshall Islands. As of 2 March 2015, over $2 billion in total compensation had been paid to 32,000 successful claimants under the Act. As of 16 March 2016, successful claims had been awarded to 19,555 downwinders, 3,963 onsite participants, 6,214 uranium miners, 1,673 uranium millers and 328 ore transporters. As of 20 April 2018, 34,372 claims in total had been approved with total compensation paid at $2,243,205,380.


See also

*
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) was passed by Congress in 2000 and is designed to compensate individuals who worked in nuclear weapons production and as a result of occupational exposures contracted certa ...
*
Compensation scheme for radiation-linked diseases The Compensation scheme for radiation-linked diseases is a workers compensation scheme administered by the UK government. It was established in November 1982 by British Nuclear Fuels Limited and its trade unions following legal actions brought aga ...
(United Kingdom) * Downwinders *
Nuclear weapons testing Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...
*
Nevada Test Site The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the ...
* Uranium mining and the Navajo people *
Nuclear weapons and the United States The United States was the first country to manufacture nuclear weapons and is the only country to have used them in combat, with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Before and during the Cold War, it conducted 1,054 nucle ...
* Pacific Proving Grounds *
Radium and radon in the environment Radium and radon are important contributors to environmental radioactivity. Radon occurs naturally as a result of decay of radioactive elements in soil and it can accumulate in houses built on areas where such decay occurs. Radon is a major caus ...
*
Uranium mining in the United States Uranium mining in the United States produced of U3O8 in 2019, 88% lower than the 2018 production of of U3O8 and the lowest US annual production since 1948. The 2019 production represents 0.3% of the anticipated uranium fuel requirements of t ...
*
Uranium mining debate The uranium mining debate covers the political and environmental controversies of uranium mining for use in either nuclear power or nuclear weapons. Background and public debate As of 2009, in terms of uranium production, Kazakhstan was the lar ...
*
Anti-nuclear movement in the United States The anti-nuclear movement in the United States consists of more than 80 anti-nuclear groups that oppose nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and/or uranium mining. These have included the Abalone Alliance, Clamshell Alliance, Committee for Nuclear ...
*
Nuclear labor issues Nuclear labor issues exist within the international nuclear power industry and the nuclear weapons production sector worldwide, impacting upon the lives and health of laborers, itinerant workers and their families. A subculture of frequently ...


References


External links


Radiation Exposure Compensation Program home page
{{authority control * * Nuclear history of the United States Navajo history * United States federal health legislation 1990 in law United States tort law * Occupational safety and health