Dr. Laura Shaw speaks about the free cancer screenings for people who might have been exposed to radiation during nuclear tests from 1951 to 1962. She is a principal investigator in the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program (RESEP) and the Nevada Test Site Screening Program. Monday, July 10, 2023
Wednesday, July 12, 2023 | 2 a.m.
A decades-old program that compensates people exposed to radiation from nuclear tests and uranium mining is set to expire next year without an extension, leaving a narrow window that is closing quickly for anyone who may be newly suffering with related illnesses.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was passed in 1990 in an effort to compensate — and avoid lawsuits with — those exposed to radiation during the more than 200 above-ground nuclear weapons tests undertaken by the United States from 1951 to 1962, either onsite or downwind of those tests, and those working in the uranium industry from 1942 through 1971. The act also extends to the families of exposure victims.
Since then, the act has undergone revisions, most recently on June 7, 2022, when President Joe Biden signed the RECA Extension Act of 2022 into law.
But even with the 2022 extension, the program is set to expire in 2024, even as more people continue to be diagnosed with cancers they say are connected to radiation exposure.
“Fortunately, we got the program, because if we didn’t … me being selfish and wanting to live would have probably left my wife destitute,” said Howard Bunn, a downwinder living in White Pine County.
The act covers uranium industry employees in 11 states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, It covers onsite workers in a number of areas where atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device took place, including the Nevada Test Site, Pacific Test Sites, South Atlantic Test Site and the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico. It extends coverage to downwinders in parts of Nevada, Arizona and Utah, but most residents of Clark County are not eligible, despite living only 65 miles away from the Nevada Test Site where the U.S. government conducted half of those above-ground tests.
Under RECA, uranium miners, millers and ore transporters may be eligible for one-time lump-sum compensation of $100,000. Onsite participants at above-ground nuclear tests may be eligible for a one-time lump sum of $75,000. Downwinders may be eligible for a $50,000 lump-sum payment.
At a program Saturday, survivors, like Bunn, who’d navigated the complicated and bureaucratic process, took the floor, giving advice to those still fighting for compensation and criticizing the lack of public information about the programs.
Bunn, who also worked at the Nevada site from 1979 to 1983, was quick to warn attendees that anyone who gets compensated through RECA is ineligible to apply for compensation through the Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EOICPA), which is more narrow but can cover costs for treatment related to exposure.
Bunn said he and his wife, Debra, pushed for two years after his cancer diagnosis in 2018 to prove he’d worked on the test site and had qualified for the payments. Meanwhile, they sold their vehicles, burned through their 401(k) savings and maxed out credit cards to pay for treatment.
He said a June 10, 2024, end date is “unthinkable” to him.
“I get it can’t go on forever, but the people that were there are most likely affected until they’re gone; how could you end it?” Bunn said.
Efforts are underway in Congress to extend and expand the program.
U.S. Sens. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, introduced the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 2023, which would extend the program for nearly another two decades, while increasing the financial awards and expanding the affected areas. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., has signed on as a co-sponsor.
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., introduced the Downwinders Parity Act of 2023, which would extend the RECA to include all areas of Clark County and Arizona’s Mohave County.
Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., introduced the Uranium Miners and Workers Act of 2023, which would extend the program into 2027.
All three bills have been assigned to committees but have not yet received a hearing.
Debra Bunn, who also grew up in White Pine County, said her sisters both suffered from multiple types of cancer, and her mother-in-law suffered from four types.
Several residents who grew up together on Las Vegas’ west side and had family who worked at the Nevada Test Site attended Saturday’s meeting. Sheron Carter, whose brother and grandfather worked at the site, said she thought radiation was part of the reason that 97 of the 232 people in her high school graduating class have died.
“We were born and raised here, and when they blew that horn, we knew we had to be in that house for eight to nine hours,” Carter said following the meeting. “We didn’t know any better, and this is the rest of it: breast cancer, lung cancer. And they don’t think we should be compensated because we didn’t work at the test site.”
Sheila Carpenter Henderson, who also grew up on the west side, said her father died from cancer in 1983, but she only learned about it through Veterans Affairs records. Her mother, she said, survived breast cancer. She said she hired a lawyer to help her prove her father’s case under EOICPA, but the $37,000 her family received a few years ago means little compared with what they went through.
“I grew up without a father because of that test site,” Henderson said. “He fell into one of the holes and broke his back. He ended up having back surgery, and they gave him nothing. He had to leave here and go back South, in order to afford living. So from sixth grade on, I rarely saw my father. I probably saw him two more times before he died.”
Dr. Laura Shaw, a UNLV instructor and principal investigator for the Nevada Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program, said she had screened between 400 and 500 patients for cancer through the program each year for the past 10 years. There are RESEP branches in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah along with Nevada.
She said the exam was thorough, and often turned up diagnoses that aren’t specifically included on the lists for RECA or EOICPA.
“It’s tricky, because we can’t always prove causality,” Shaw said. “We find skin cancer all the time. That one’s not a compensated illness. We find prostate cancer, we find anemia. … I find and diagnose diabetes quite a bit, and atrial fibrillation.”
Shaw said as important as the current RECA program is, the $50,000 payment afforded to downwinders might only be enough for a single hospitalization, let alone long-term treatment.
“There are some people that need 10 courses (of chemotherapy), and each one is $5,000 to $10,000,” Shaw said. “($50,000) wouldn’t even get their chemo if they had to pay out of pocket. This is a cost sometimes on top of Medicare, or not covered by whatever insurance they have. So, these people are financially devastated.”
Nevada RESEP is operated by the UNLV School of Medicine. Those who think they are at risk for radiation exposure covered under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act can seek a medical screening with Nevada RESEP by calling 702-992-6887 or email [email protected].
