[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2139 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
2d Session
S. 2139
To provide coverage under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness
Compensation Program for individuals employed at atomic weapons
employer facilities during periods of residual contamination.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 26, 2004
Mrs. Clinton introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide coverage under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness
Compensation Program for individuals employed at atomic weapons
employer facilities during periods of residual contamination.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Residual Radioactive Contamination
Compensation Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Beginning in the early 1940s, the Department of Energy
and its predecessors, the Atomic Energy Commission and the
Manhattan Engineering District, relied upon hundreds of
private-sector factories and laboratories to develop, test, and
produce atomic weapons for use by the military, and these
facilities became contaminated with radioactive materials
during the process of producing material used for atomic
weapons production.
(2) The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program Act of 2000 (in this section referred to as
``EEOICPA'') provides health care and lump-sum benefits for
radiation-related cancers and other illnesses to certain
covered workers made sick while they toiled in the nation's
nuclear weapons factories, including vendor facilities. EEOICPA
defines these private-sector vendor facilities as ``atomic
weapons employer facilities'', and employees working in such
facilities while their employers were under contract to process
nuclear weapons materials are defined as ``atomic weapons
employees''.
(3) Many of the atomic weapons employer facilities were not
properly decontaminated after processing radioactive materials
such as thorium, uranium, and radium and retained significant
levels of contamination. Workers who were hired and employed in
such atomic weapons employer facilities after the date that
contracts were ended for production were potentially exposed to
significant amounts of radiation. Congress was not aware of the
presence of residual radioactive contamination in these
facilities when it enacted EEOICPA, thus inadvertently denying
coverage under the law to those who were unwittingly exposed to
radiation left over from nuclear weapons activities.
(4) In December 2001, the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107-107) was enacted,
which required in section 3151(b) that the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health study and issue a final
report to Congress by December 2002 describing which of the
atomic weapons employer facilities had significant residual
radioactive contamination remaining in them after processing
materials for use in atomic weapons and during what time
periods such radioactive contamination remained.
(5) In October 2003, the Institute issued a report, titled
``Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination in
Atomic Weapons Employer and Beryllium Vendor Facilities''. The
report found that, out of 219 atomic weapons employer
facilities--
(A) 97 (44 percent) of such facilities have
potential for significant residual radioactive
contamination outside of the periods in which atomic
weapons-related production occurred;
(B) 88 (40 percent) of such facilities have little
potential for significant residual radioactive
contamination outside of the periods in which atomic
weapons-related production occurred; and
(C) 34 (16 percent) of such facilities have
insufficient information to make a determination.
(6) Congress is now aware that workers were employed in a
substantial number of atomic weapons employer facilities years
after the Manhattan Project ended. These workers were
potentially harmed by legacy residual radioactive contamination
that permeated the walls, the floors, and the air of their
worksites well after the Atomic Energy Commission and the
Department of Energy terminated contracts for production
activities. This exposure to residual radioactive contamination
took place without the knowledge or consent of these workers.
(7) Congress therefore declares that, based on the
scientific assessment by the Institute, those workers hired and
employed in such facilities during the period after Cold War
production stopped but during which the Institute found there
was significant residual radioactive contamination should be
defined as ``atomic weapons employees'' under EEOICPA, should
be eligible to apply for compensation under subtitle B of
EEOICPA, and should have their claims evaluated on the same
basis as those atomic weapons employees who were employed
during the period when processing of radioactive materials was
underway as part of the atomic weapons program.
SEC. 3. COVERAGE UNDER ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS
COMPENSATION PROGRAM OF INDIVIDUALS EMPLOYED AT ATOMIC
WEAPONS EMPLOYER FACILITIES DURING PERIODS OF RESIDUAL
CONTAMINATION.
Paragraph (3) of section 3621 of the Energy Employees Occupational
Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384l) is amended
to read as follows:
``(3) The term `atomic weapons employee' means any of the
following:
``(A) An individual employed at an atomic weapons
employer facility during a period when the employer was
processing or producing, for the use by the United
States, material that emitted radiation and was used in
the production of an atomic weapon, excluding uranium
mining and milling.
``(B) An individual employed--
``(i) at an atomic weapons employer
facility with respect to which the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health,
in its report dated October 2003 and titled
`Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium
Contamination at Atomic Weapons Employer
Facilities and Beryllium Vendor Facilities', or
any update to that report, found that there is
a potential (not including a case in which the
Institute found that there is `little'
potential) for significant residual
contamination outside of the period in which
weapons-related production occurred; and
``(ii) during a period, as specified in
such report or any update to such report, of
significant residual contamination at that
facility.''.
SEC. 4. UPDATE TO REPORT.
In each of 2005, 2006, and 2007, the Director of the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health shall submit to Congress,
not later than December 31 of that year, an update to the report
required by section 3151(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107-107; 42 U.S.C. 7384 note). Each
such update shall--
(1) for each facility for which such report, or any update
to such report, found that insufficient information was
available to determine whether significant residual
contamination was present, determine whether significant
residual contamination was present;
(2) for each facility for which such report, or any update
to such report, found that significant residual contamination
remained present as of the date of the report, determine the
date on which such contamination ceased to be present;
(3) for each facility for which such report, or any update
to such report, found that significant residual contamination
was present but for which the Director has been unable to
determine the extent to which such contamination is
attributable to beryllium or atomic weapons-related activities,
identify the specific dates of coverage attributable to such
activities and, in so identifying, presume that such
contamination is attributable to such activities until there is
evidence of decontamination of residual contamination
identified with beryllium or atomic weapons-related activities;
and
(4) if new information that pertains to the report has been
made available to the Director since that report was submitted,
identify and describe such information.
SEC. 5. PUBLICATION IN FEDERAL REGISTER.
The Director shall ensure that the report referred to in section 4,
and each update required by section 4, are published in the Federal
Register not later than 15 days after being released.
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