[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 650 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 650
To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program
Act of 2000 to provide for certain nuclear weapons program workers to
be included in the Special Exposure Cohort under the compensation
program established by that Act.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 15, 2007
Mr. Reid introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program
Act of 2000 to provide for certain nuclear weapons program workers to
be included in the Special Exposure Cohort under the compensation
program established by that Act.
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 ``Nevada Test Site Veterans'
Compensation Act of 2007''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The contribution of the State of Nevada to the security
of the United States throughout the Cold War and since has been
unparalleled.
(2) In 1950, President Harry S Truman designated what would
later be called the Nevada Test Site as the country's nuclear
proving grounds and, a month later, the first atmospheric test
at the Nevada Test Site was detonated.
(3) The United States conducted 100 above-ground and 828
underground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site from 1951 to
1992.
(4) Out of the 1,054 nuclear tests conducted in the United
States, 928, or 88 percent, were conducted at the Nevada Test
Site.
(5) The Nevada Test Site has served, and continues to
serve, as the premier research, testing, and development site
for the nuclear defense capabilities of the United States.
(6) The Nevada Test Site and its workers are an essential
and irreplaceable part of the Nation's defense capabilities.
(7) Individuals working on Cold War-era nuclear weapons
programs were employed in facilities owned by the Federal
Government and the private sector producing and testing nuclear
weapons and engaging in related atomic energy defense
activities for the national defense beginning in the 1940s.
(8) These Cold War atomic energy veterans helped to build
and test the nuclear arsenal that served as a deterrent during
the Cold War, sacrificing their personal health and well-being
in service to the United States.
(9) During the Cold War, many of these workers were exposed
to radiation, beryllium, and silica, and were placed in harm's
way by the Department of Energy and contractors,
subcontractors, and vendors of the Department without the
workers' knowledge or consent, without adequate radiation
monitoring, and without necessary protections from internal or
external occupational radiation exposure.
(10) The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.) (in this section
referred to as ``EEOICPA'') was enacted to ensure fairness and
equity for the men and women who, during the past 60 years,
performed duties uniquely related to the nuclear weapons
production and testing programs of the Department of Energy,
its predecessor agencies, and its contractors by establishing a
program that would provide timely, uniform, and adequate
compensation for beryllium- and radiation-related health
conditions.
(11) Research by the Department of Energy, the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), NIOSH
contractors, the President's Advisory Board on Radiation and
Worker Health, and congressional committees indicates that at
certain nuclear weapons facilities--
(A) workers were not adequately monitored for
internal or external exposure to ionizing radiation;
and
(B) records were not maintained, are not reliable,
are incomplete, or fail to indicate the radioactive
isotopes to which workers were exposed.
(12) Due to the inequities posed by the factors described
above and the resulting harm to the workers, Congress
designated classes of atomic weapons employees at the Paducah,
Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, Oak Ridge K-25, Tennessee, and the
Amchitka Island, Alaska, sites as members of the Special
Exposure Cohort under EEOICPA.
(13) It has become evident that it is not feasible to
estimate with sufficient accuracy in a timely manner the
radiation dose received by employees at the Department of
Energy facility at the Nevada Test Site for many reasons,
including the following:
(A) The NIOSH Technical Basis Document, the
threshold document for radiation dose reconstruction
under EEOICPA, has incomplete radionuclide lists.
(B) NIOSH has not demonstrated that it can estimate
dose from exposure to large, nonrespirable hot
particles.
(C) There are significant gaps in environmental
measurement and exposure data.
(D) Resuspension doses have been seriously
underestimated.
(E) NIOSH has not been able to estimate accurately
exposures to bomb assembly workers and radon levels.
(F) NIOSH has not demonstrated that it can
accurately sample tritiated water vapor.
(G) External dose records lack integrity.
(H) There are no beta dose data from before 1966.
(I) There are no neutron dose data from before 1966
and only partial data after such date.
(J) There are no internal dose data from before
late 1955 or 1956, and limited data until well into the
1960s.
(K) NIOSH has ignored exposure from more than a
dozen underground tests that vented, including Blanca,
Des Moines, Baneberry, Camphor, Diagonal Line, Riola,
Agrini, Midas Myth, Misty Rain, and Mighty Oak.
(L) Instead of monitoring individuals, groups were
monitored, resulting in unreliable personnel
monitoring.
(14) Some Nevada Test Site workers, despite having worked
with significant amounts of radioactive materials and having
known exposures leading to serious health effects, have been
denied compensation under EEOICPA as a result of flawed
calculations based on records that are incomplete or in error,
or based on faulty assumptions and incorrect models.
(15) Although basal cell carcinoma and chronic lymphocytic
leukemia are both radiogenic cancers that employees at the
Nevada Test Site may have contracted in the scope of their
work, EEOICPA currently will not include individuals with basal
cell carcinoma as members of the Special Exposure Cohort, nor
does it provide for compensation for employees with chronic
lymphocytic leukemia.
SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF CERTAIN NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM WORKERS IN SPECIAL
EXPOSURE COHORT UNDER ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL
ILLNESS COMPENSATION PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--Section 3621 of the Energy Employees Occupational
Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384l) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (9), by adding at the end the following
new subparagraph:
``(C) An individual described in paragraph
(14)(D).''; and
(2) in paragraph (14), by adding at the end the following
new subparagraph:
``(D) The employee was so employed at the Nevada
Test Site or other similar sites located in Nevada
during the period beginning on January 1, 1950, and
ending on December 31, 1993, and contracted an
occupational illness, basal cell carcinoma, or chronic
lymphocytic leukemia, and, during such employment--
``(i) was present during an atmospheric or
underground nuclear test or performed
drillbacks, tunnel re-entry, or clean-up work
following such a test (without regard to the
duration of employment);
``(ii) was present at an event involving
the venting of an underground test or during a
planned or unplanned radiation release (without
regard to the duration of employment);
``(iii) was present during testing or post-
test activities related to nuclear rocket or
ramjet engine testing at the Nevada Test Site
(without regard to the duration of employment);
``(iv) was assigned to work at Area 51 or
other classified program areas of the Nevada
Test Site (without regard to the duration of
employment); or
``(v) was employed at the Nevada Test Site,
and was employed in a job activity that--
``(I) was monitored for exposure to
ionizing radiation; or
``(II) was comparable to a job that
is, was, or should have been monitored
for exposure to ionizing radiation at
the Nevada Test Site.''.
(b) Deadline for Claims Adjudication.--Claims for compensation
under section 3621(14)(D) of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness
Compensation Program Act of 2000, as added by subsection (a), shall be
adjudicated and a final decision issued--
(1) in the case of claims pending as of the date of the
enactment of this Act, not later than 30 days after such date;
and
(2) in the case of claims filed after the date of the
enactment of this Act, not later than 30 days after the date of
such filing.
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