Hanford workers new cancer package OK’d,

TriCity Herald (WA), 12/17/09
WASHINGTON — The federal secretary of Health and Human Services has agreed to expand automatic compensation of $150,000 to more Hanford workers who may have developed cancer because of exposure to radiation.
If Congress does not object, the decision by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius takes effect Jan. 10. The action was recommended in October by a federal advisory board.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, will review 340 pending claims of former Hanford workers, some filed by their survivors. The claims are for workers who had cancers covered under the automatic compensation program and who worked at Hanford during the years the new expanded rules would cover.
Those pending claims are in addition to hundreds of past claims that have been denied but would be reviewed by the Department of Labor to see if they now qualify for compensation under the eased rules. The new rules also could help some middle-aged Hanford workers and recent retirees who yet may develop cancer.

RECOGNIZING NUCLEAR WORKERS

RECOGNIZING NUCLEAR WORKERS
30 October 2009
US Fed News
Copyright 2009. HT Media Limited. All rights reserved.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 -- Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. (3rd CD), issued the following news release:
The Nuclear Worker Day of Remembrance Resolution, designating October 30, 2009, to be a national day of remembrance passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Congressman Zach Wamp cosponsored the legislation to honor the thousands of men and women who supported the nation's nuclear efforts during the Cold War.
"Many of our citizens have been called upon to serve our country in tanks, airplanes, ships and submarines. Others were in plants and factories serving our country in a different venue, but one that was just as patriotic and sacrificial," said Congressman Wamp. "On October 30, people will come together across the country to remember and honor all those who worked to create the deterrent that made the world safer."
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has played a critical role in the defense of our country from the Manhattan Project forward. From 1942, almost three-quarters of a million people have worked in the nuclear industry. Thousands of those workers became ill as a result of exposure to toxic substances or chemicals during their work at a Department of Energy facility.

More Hanford workers could be compensated

More Hanford workers could be compensated
Annette Cary;Herald staff writer
29 October 2009
Tri-City Herald
(c) 2009 The Tri-City Herald. All Rights Reserved.
Less than 10 percent of former Hanford construction workers who likely would qualify for compensation for illnesses have applied to a federal program, said a Building Trades National Medical Screening Program official.
Representatives of the program held a meeting in Pasco on Wednesday night to discuss the screening and a Department of Labor program that provides compensation for Hanford workers who developed illnesses because of exposure to radiation or hazardous chemicals at the nuclear reservation. Nearly 100 attended.
As many as 25,000 former Hanford building trades workers may have developed illnesses covered by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, said Knut Ringen, principal investigator for the building trades screening program. But he estimated that less than 10 percent of those have applied.
The compensation program pays $150,000 in compensation for cancers likely caused by radiation exposure and up to $250,000 for wage loss and impairment caused by exposure to toxic substances, which could include radiation, chemicals, solvents, acids and metals. Medical expenses are covered, and if workers have died, their survivors may be eligible for compensation.