Guest guest Posted September 16, 2003 Report Share Posted September 16, 2003 Aid denied for ill nuclear workers > By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY > WASHINGTON Scores of private factories that helped make the nation's first > atomic bombs stayed polluted for decades. And thousands of people who later > worked in them were exposed to radiation and toxins without knowing it, > federal records show. > 45f4360.jpg > > The government is refusing to compensate workers who say they have > illnesses from the latent contamination. It says only those who had jobs > while the weapons work was going on are eligible for money. > > About 250 chemical plants, steel mills, machine shops and other private > factories got classified contracts in the 1940s and '50s to process > radioactive and toxic material for atomic bombs for the government. > Officials knew contamination at many sites remained above federal safety > limits for years after weapons work ended, declassified records on > conditions at the factories show. A few stayed polluted into the early '90s. > > A sampling of the records reviewed by USA TODAY suggests that at least a > few thousand people perhaps several times more worked at the sites while > they remained polluted. The newspaper identified sites in New York, > Pennsylvania, Ohio and a half-dozen other states where scores of workers > apparently were exposed. > > No health studies have been done to determine how many workers may have > been sickened by leftover radiation and toxins at contracting sites. > > Most workers were not told of the contamination or its health risks. > > A new, yet-to-be released federal study finds about 100 sites where there > was a " high potential " that leftover radiation was significant enough to > raise workers' risks of cancer and other ills. It also finds a " high > potential " that at least 50 other sites were polluted by beryllium, which > causes lung disease. > > The findings add a chapter to the nuclear weapons program's legacy of > health and environmental damage. They also will complicate government > efforts to account for the damage. > > After USA TODAY reported in 2000 on illnesses and pollution linked to > weapons contracting, Congress made employees at those facilities eligible > for $150,000 if they have cancer or other ailments tied to weapons work. > But workers who were hired after contracting ended do not qualify. > > Peter Turcic, who heads the Labor Department's compensation program, says > officials " have known for some time " that workers who came to contracting > sites in later years were exposed to contamination. The department has no > figure on how many have been denied compensation for illnesses. > > If Congress expands eligibility, " we would adjudicate those claims, " he > says. " We have to administer the law as it was written. " > http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-09-14-nuclear-main_x.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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