Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas
“Exercise Desert Rock VI” was one of Operation Teapot’s 14 nuclear test explosions that took place between February and May of 1955 at the Nevada Test Site.
Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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When the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was enacted in 2000, it provided long-overdue relief for thousands of Americans whose health and well-being had been damaged by testing of nuclear weapons in the Nevada desert.
But it was a badly flawed piece of legislation that limited compensation to residents of just 22 rural counties in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, as well as certain individuals who worked in uranium extraction and processing. Another shortcoming is that it was put in place for too short of a duration.
Now, however, Congress has a chance to greatly improve on the original RECA via a newly introduced bill that would expand the act and extend compensation, which is set to run out next year unless lawmakers act.
The expansion would extend eligibility for compensation to all counties in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, including Clark County, as well as portions of other Western states. Also included would be Guam, where residents suffered fallout from testing in the Pacific Ocean. Individuals employed in the uranium industry would remain eligible, and the legislation would make it easier for members of Native American communities to apply for funding. It also expands the list of radiation-related cancers included in the original act and increases the maximum compensation amount to $150,000 from $100,000.
This is an appropriate, responsible piece of legislation that has drawn bipartisan support and whose co-sponsors include Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, along with Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev. We trust that all of Nevada’s congressional delegates will support it.
The original RECA was based on a good idea in that it created a means for individuals who suffered certain cancers and illnesses to apply through the Justice Department for government compensation. The government has approved about 36,000 RECA claims over the years, awarding $2.4 billion in those claims as of early this year.
But the coverage area was based on an overly narrow determination of who was affected by testing. For instance, New Mexicans living within the downwind fallout zone from the first atomic bomb test weren’t eligible for compensation.
The U.S. would conduct more than 100 above-ground nuclear tests and set off more than 1,000 explosions from 1945 through 1992, with the vast majority of those happening in Nevada. Not only did this testing release radioactive particles that could be carried on the wind for thousands of miles before eventually falling back to earth, the underground testing created an elevated risk of cancer among workers at the Nevada Test Site (now the Nevada National Security Site) and raised concerns about contamination of groundwater.
Given the vast extent of the testing, the number of RECA claimants over the past 21 years likely represents just a fraction of those who were affected by radioactive fallout on American soil.
For instance, only a small portion of Clark County was included in the original measure, even though studies have shown that average radiation exposure for residents here was double the rate seen elsewhere in the 22 counties.
While expanding the coverage area for eligibility, the new legislation also would direct funding to health centers and nonprofit organizations to conduct cancer screenings and provide support for people filing RECA claims.
Those screenings are important, because the ailments caused by exposure to radioactive materials can take decades to manifest themselves.
The new legislation also would help right a wrong from our past, when the government falsely assured Americans that nuclear testing could be done safely. The message to Nevada was that it was our patriotic duty during the Cold War to allow the testing, which began in 1951 at the test site, just 65 miles north of Las Vegas.
From that point forward, many Americans unwittingly exposed themselves to danger in support of the testing program, trusting that the government would protect them from harm, only to later learn that they’d suffered a radioactivity-related illness.
Today, decades removed from that era when Americans had far more faith in government, we know the real story. Nuclear testing shortened the lives of thousands of Americans and forced others to endure agonizing recoveries from debilitating illnesses, including many in Nevada. The destructive legacy of this testing continues to resonate in the form of newly diagnosed cancers and related illnesses.
This is no time for the nation to abandon those who continue to suffer.
The flawed original version of the law must be expanded, and compensation must be extended to provide relief for Americans who sacrificed their well-being for nuclear-arms development.
