Reconciliation law offers radiation compensation to more people
Source: Roll Call
Posted July 8, 2025 at 7:00am
The reconciliation law signed by President Donald Trump last week will provide greater compensation to more victims of radiation exposure from America’s nuclear weapons programs through 2028, putting an end to a yearslong lobbying effort.
The language in the fiscal 2025 law spearheaded by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would expand coverage for more populations “downwind” of nuclear testing in the Southwest, as well as add compensation for individuals near uranium refining and disposal sites connected with the Manhattan Project.
The compensation program was established by the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act that provided financial help and medical screening to those downwind of nuclear testing sites, including people in states such as New Mexico and Arizona, as well as those exposed and sickened through uranium mining and exposure to waste. Hawley and other advocates of expanding the program said its current coverage wasn’t accounting for large swaths of populations, including in Alaska, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, who have been impacted by exposure connected to the Manhattan Project.
Uranium processed in St. Louis was used in the first atomic bombs, and issues surrounding nuclear waste continue to plague that region, even requiring the closure of an elementary school in 2022 because of contaminated soil. Hawley’s 2024 version of the bill to reauthorize and expand the program was passed by the Senate but died in the House. The law expired more than a year ago, and exposure victims have been unable to file claims since.
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2025/07/08/reconciliation-law-offers-radiation-compensation-to-more-people/
= new reply since forum marked as read
