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DEMOLISHED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Are Radioactive Materials Still Affecting Huntington Workers Who in 2006 Alleged Cancer Clusters from 2004? - Huntington News Network
During the Cold War, Huntington contained a DOE plant involved in the production of radioactive and/or potentially nuclear materials. After its decommissioning, the remains --- except for the compressor building --- were hauled away and buried in Piketon, Ohio.
During a 2006 meeting with union members representatives of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Office of Compensation Analysis and support discussed compensation for health conditions acquired due to working near contaminated materials.
After an exhaustive search of the internet, HNN at this time emphasizes the official analysis that current potential radiation exposure --- even at the remaining Compressor Building ---- was/is considered negligible as it results in an annual dose of less than 1 m/rem to the maximally exposure organ. (Based on CDC/OSAS documents)
However, worker reports taken from the 2006 meeting create unanswered questions. In fact, the internet search did NOT turn up further documents related to the local USWA and NIOSH.
Thus, we have a series of unanswered (or unfound) questions raised by those in attendance.
Former nuclear workers win step toward payments | NevadaAppeal.com
Sen. Harry Reid says the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is changing position to support a key measure for compensating sick former Nevada Test Site workers.
Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday the next step is for the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health to approve the NIOSH “special cohort status” recommendation next month.
The designation lets case evaluators attribute illnesses to work at the nation's nuclear proving ground north of Las Vegas without a cumbersome government “dose reconstruction” process.
Former workers complain sick colleagues are dying while the government slowly processes claims for medical benefits and $150,000 payments under a program created by Congress in 2001.
NIOSH has estimated about 500 of workers from the years of underground nuclear tests, 1963 to 1992, could qualify.
Cancer testing effort returns | chillicothegazette.com | Chillicothe Gazette
Nobody has to convince Edna Brackey how important the mobile Early Cancer Detection Program discontinued at the end of 2006 really was.
"I really owe eight years of a very enjoyable life to this program," said Brackey, who will turn 90 next summer, during a ceremony Thursday announcing the resumption of the testing program for current and former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant workers
Brackey, like many who develop lung cancer, had no visible early symptoms of the disease, although she did have a prior problem with a cancer in her mouth. Due to the testing program that was in place in Piketon in 2001, however, a very small cancerous mass in her lung was detected with the free CT scan.
California Nuclear Workers File Whistleblower Charges Against Edison
Veteran Managers at SONGS Nuclear Power Plant near San Clemente Say Southern California Edison Retaliated When They Reported Nuclear Safety Concerns
SAN ONOFRE, Calif., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- In whistleblower complaints filed this week with the U.S. Department of Labor, two managers at Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) say the company violated federal law when it retaliated against them for raising nuclear safety concerns.
Rick Busnardo and Mike Mason have worked at SONGS for 25 and 29 years respectively, and together manage the fabrication shop that builds steel casks for the long-term storage of the plant's spent fuel rods. The integrity of the casks is critical because the spent fuel remains highly radioactive for hundreds of years.
Busnardo and Mason allege that trouble began when they reported a "willful violation" of nuclear-safety standards to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in October 2008, after learning that a fabricator in their shop had performed welding operations that fell short of the plants' quality-assurance specifications. Busnardo and Mason believe their report angered Edison management because the NRC had cited the SONGS plant for a high level of such willful violations several months earlier, and the company wanted to avoid further scrutiny.
Worcester Telegram & Gazette: US to compensate Norton workers
At least 19 Norton Co. workers who have cancer - perhaps caused through exposure five decades ago to nuclear materials such as uranium and thorium - will receive compensation and benefits from the federal government. Their survivors may be eligible as well.\n\nThe U.S. Department of Labor announced yesterday that all former Norton Co. employees who worked at the Worcester plant between Jan. 1, 1945, and Dec. 31, 1957, are part of a "special exposure cohort" that entitles them to the compensation and benefits.\n\nTo be eligible, workers must have worked for at least 250 days at the plant, according to Michael Volpe, a Department of Labor spokesman. The workers must also have developed one of 22 cancers considered likely to have been caused by exposure to radioactive material. Those cancers include lung cancer, leukemia, bone cancer, liver cancer, lymphomas, multiple myeloma, renal cancer, as well as a long list of other cancers.
Kansas City News - As Honeywell closes its 60-year-old site, workers are dealing with the fatal aftereffects - page 1
Tony Ross' bat connected, sending the softball rocketing to the fence. While the outfielders scrambled after what should have been a home run, Ross stopped at second, doubled over and gasped for breath. Then he sat down on the base.
The two teams playing were made up of machinists, custodians and guards from the late shift at the Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City. They had met, as usual, around midnight on the baseball diamond at the nearby Hickman Mills High School to play until four or five in the morning.
EPA seeks ex-Santa Susana lab workers for cleanup - San Jose Mercury News
he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants the help of former workers at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory to identify contamination from nuclear and radiological projects at the site.
The EPA is interested in interviewing former workers for three companies—Atomics International, Rocketdyne and Rockwell—who may know about spills, dumping or other releases of radiological material, the agency said in a news release this week.
The lab was established in 1946 and covers nearly 2,900 acres in eastern Ventura County, just west of the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles.
Cibola Beacon - Uranium miners honored at remembrance event
The first annual National Day of Remembrance in honor of former uranium and nuclear workers was observed Friday at the Cibola Convention Center.
Locally the ceremony was organized by the Cold War Patriots, a non-profit advocacy group for those who worked in the uranium and weapons industries. You may have noticed a couple of PT Cruisers painted with a Cold War Patriots motif around town and wondered, as we did, what this group's mission was.
NIOSH to reevaluate its work for EEOICPA; seeks new director for compensation office | Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground | knoxnews.com
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health announced that it's going to begin a major re-evaluation of its responsibilities, including the scientific and techical support, for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.
NIOSH also said it would conduct a national search for a new director of the Office of Compensation Analysis and Support as the successor to Larry Elliott, who will take a new role at NIOSH as an associate director in charge of "several high-priority projects" with institute-wide activities. Stuart Hinnefeld, technical program manager, will become interim OCAS director while that search is conducted, the institute said in the announcement.
Day honors Cold War Hanford workers - Mid-Columbia News | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news
Harold Copeland took an engineering job at the Hanford nuclear reservation in 1947, swayed by a recruiter's pitch that he would be paid a good wage and could live in a house with his wife in the government-owned town of Richland.
He took the job and the house rented for $38 a month, which also included power, water, grass seed and handymen to change the light bulbs.
Special cohort needed for Hanford workers - Opinions | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news
We're not nuclear scientists or radiation experts, but we're willing to accept the recommendation from those who are -- especially after years of study.
Congress should approve the special exposure cohort for Hanford workers currently being recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
A special cohort would make automatic $150,000 in compensation and extend medical coverage to potentially hundreds of sick Hanford workers who were employed for at least 250 days from Oct. 1, 1943, through June 30, 1972.
In the case of deceased workers, surviving family may be eligible for the payment.
House approves bill to remember nuclear defense workers - Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 | 5:23 p.m. - Las Vegas Sun
It may be a simple gesture, but the House today overwhelmingly approved a resolution that establishes Friday as a day of remembrance for Nevada Test Site workers and other employees of the nation’s nuclear defense industry.
Authored by Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley of Las Vegas, the day will be set aside for the nation to “salute the hundreds of thousands of men and women who built and maintained America’s nuclear defense capacity for more than 60 years,” the congresswoman said.
Remembrance Day and Janine Anderson | Frank Munger's Atomic City Underground | knoxnews.com
The first "National Day of Remembrance" will be held this Friday, and Oak Ridge will be among the sites holding ceremonies.
The day's events will honor workers in the nation's nuclear weapons program, many of whom fell sick and ultimately died as a result of workplace exposures, Hundreds of thousands of workers have participated in the U.S. weapons program since its inception in World War II, when work began on the first atomic bombs.
Senator seeks more compensation for state nuclear energy workers | coshoctontribune.com | Coshocton Tribune
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown unveiled legislation Tuesday that would extend occupational illness-related compensation and health benefits to hundreds of former employees at two Cold War-era nuclear facilities in Ohio.
The Ohio Democrat's proposal would extend a special designation to the Feed Materials Production Center in Fernald and the Piqua Organic Moderated Reactor in Piqua so that former workers suffering from certain forms of cancer would automatically qualify for compensation.
Under current law, compensation is paid only if there is evidence the cancer was likely caused by radiation exposure.
"Former energy workers battling cancer should not have to struggle to receive the benefits to which they are entitled," Brown said.
Board OKs expanded compensation for ill Hanford nuclear workers - Breaking News - Yahoo | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news
A compensation program for ill nuclear workers won key approval Tuesday to offer automatic $150,000 payments to potentially hundreds more Hanford workers or their survivors.
An advisory committee to the federal government meeting in New York voted unanimously to further ease compensation requirements for Hanford workers who may have developed any of a wide range of cancers due to radiation exposure on the job. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, now is expected to recommend the eased rules, called a special exposure cohort, to Congress.
If Congress does not object, the special exposure cohort would be formed.
Under the special exposure cohort, automatic $150,000 compensation and medical coverage would be extended to any Hanford worker who was employed for at least 250 days from Oct. 1, 1943, through June 30, 1972. That's more inclusive than previous decisions to ease rules only for workers assigned to specific Hanford areas for certain of those years.
The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO - Cold War-era nuclear workers recognized
An event in eastern Missouri will join other U.S. observances of the service of Cold War-era nuclear weapons workers.
Several hundred workers, or their survivors and friends, are expected to attend ceremonies Oct. 30 in Weldon Spring during the first National Day of Remembrance.
Congress dedicated the day to recognize the sacrifices of nuclear weapons and uranium workers from more than 300 U.S. facilities, many of them disabled or dead from exposure to radiation or other toxins.
Event organizer Denise Brock says $4 billion has been paid to workers or their survivors nationwide, including $200 million in Missouri, as federal compensation for the harm since 2000.
The event will include a tree dedication and wreath laying, as well as signups for free medical screenings.
The Hawk Eye: Pantex plant site waiting for same status as IAAP
Many former atomic energy workers in southeast Iowa practically have to beg for compensation under the federal program specifically designed for them.
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They go months without a response from the Department of Labor that oversees the program, and yet are expected to get their replies sent back in record time. Some letters simply go unanswered by the district offices.
Then, they often wait years before finally being denied redress for protecting the country during the Cold War.
And the former workers in Amarillo, Texas, at the Pantex site would love to have it that easy.
"Why can't cumulative information be used to benefit other workers," said Sarah Ray, who is one of three people applying for a special exposure cohort for Pantex. "I don't get the feeling that they are truly creating a usable database. I think they're missing the boat."
News Articles: "All hope abandon ye who enter here"
"All hope abandon ye who enter here": The Unofficial Motto of the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP)
I must confess that the above quote isn't really engraved over the entrances to all of the OWCP district offices – poetry buffs will realize that I borrowed this quote from Dante Alighieri, the great 14th century Italian poet who penned the "Divine Comedy" – but from my experience I think it would be a suitable warning to injured Federal workers as to how they are likely to be treated by the agency.
Officials: Missing SC nuclear pellets not risky - South Carolina & Regional - Wire - The Sun News
Federal investigators say the public faces little danger from 25 pounds of radioactive material reported missing from a South Carolina nuclear fuel plant, but at least one expert from a private group said any amount of uranium could be dangerous in the wrong hands.
Officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a public meeting in Columbia Thursday to discuss results of their months long inspection at the Westinghouse Electric Co. plant. In May, the Monroeville, Pa.-based company told regulators it could not account for about 25 pounds of low-enriched uranium - small, pencil eraser-sized pellets used to make nuclear fuel.
The material, which amounts to a container of pellets about the size of a five-pound coffee can, likely never left the plant and was recycled with discarded materials that don't meet quality standards, NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said Friday. And even if it had been released, the stable composition of the uranium is such that it couldn't be used as a weapon, like a dirty bomb, he said.
The Associated Press: 1,000 jobs lost at uranium enrichment plant
USEC Inc. said Monday about 120 employees and more than 850 workers for suppliers have lost their jobs since the Energy Department delayed a final review of the company's application for a $2 billion loan guarantee to finance a uranium-enrichment plant in southern Ohio.
USEC suspended work on the project in August after the government's decision over its plans for the American Centrifuge plant in Piketon.
Job losses have occurred in eight states with Ohio and Tennessee having the largest losses.
USEC said it is continuing with demonstration activities for the project and wants to be in a position to ramp back up should it be approved for the loan guarantees in 2010. The company said it hopes to update its application for the loan guarantee by early next year.
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