Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Atomic veterans sue VA

Frances Brown, a widow who discovered her husband's letters in their Massachusetts attic describing radiation exposure at the Nevada Test Site, has gone to court against the Department of Veterans Affairs and a federal contractor.

Lt. Col. William A. Brown died of prostate, bone and skin cancers after flying through mushroom clouds at the Test Site and during Pacific Island nuclear experiments during 30 years of Air Force service. His widow spent 11 frustrating years filing fruitless claims with the Veteran's Administration until she discovered the letters in 1993.

Brown's attorney, Larry Leck, went to the U.S. District Court in Chicago Thursday, filing on behalf of Brown and 12 others who claim neither the VA nor Scientific Applications International Corp. responded to the men's plight.

Leck, representing the National Association of Atomic Veterans, marched into court in September and filed the first suit against the VA. The VA has failed to follow public law by aiding veterans such as Brown who died of multiple cancers, the suit claims.

Experts say radiation cannot be blamed for cancers, but Congress had added certain types for VA coverage in 1993 based on links to the disease. The VA has not reported back to Congress, as required by the law, a legal brief said.

SAIC has been added because "the total doses assigned to veterans by SAIC were flawed and inaccurate," the complaint says.

The corporation is based in San Diego and is a major U.S. Department of Energy contractor at the proposed high-level nuclear dump site under study at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

SAIC's reconstruction of ionizing radiation doses received by the atomic veterans have been faulty for years as outlined in the lawsuit, Leck said in a telephone interview from Chicago.

SAIC spokeswoman Sue Volek said the company had not seen the latest suit. "We haven't seen it and we cannot respond until we do," she said.

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