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On the same day that the Labor Dept. announced that Tennessee had passed the $1 billion milestone in compensation and medical benefits from the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, the federal agency announced that more than $500 milion had been paid to current and former employees (or their surviving relatives) at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky. In the release distributed to the media, it was noted that the Paducah plant over its history enriched more than 1 million tons of uranium. "We hope this aid has assisted in easing the hardships experienced by this community," Rachel Leiton of DOE said in a prepared statement.

The government has paid out more than $1 billion in claims to 9,134 Tennesseans made ill from working in the nuclear weapons facilities at Oak Ridge during the Cold War. The Labor Department announced the latest tally on Tuesday, saying others may still be eligible who haven't filed claims. The Tennesseans worked at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, the former K-25 uranium enrichment plant or the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Since the program began in 2001, about one in five payouts have gone to Tennesseans. The program provides compensation and medical benefits to workers diagnosed with cancer or other illnesses caused by workplace exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica. Another $500 million has been paid to nearly 4,800 workers at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky.

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week released a request for proposals (RFP) for a contractor to perform Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Operations at the two DUF6 conversion facilities at Piketon and Paducah, Kentucky. The procurement will be for a single contractor to be awarded two cost-plus-award-fee contracts. The contract period will be for five years with a total estimated cost for the two contracts of $350-450 million. These facilities will convert DOE's inventory of DUF6, located at the Portsmouth and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plants, into a stable chemical form that will be acceptable for transportation, reuse or disposal. The contractor will also provide cylinder surveillance and maintenance of the DUF6, low-enrichment uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and natural assay UF6 as well as empty the cylinders that store the DUF6 in a safe and environmentally acceptable manner. The contracts are expected to be awarded in 2010

Widows of 38 former employees seeking exception to 2-year rule Surviving family members of several former workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon are asking the state to make an exception concerning their Workers Compensation claims for deceased spouses who handled possibly hazardous material that may have contributed to their deaths. Advertisement Columbus attorney Philip Fulton, on behalf of 38 widows of former workers, has appealed an order from the Ohio Industrial Commission denying state death benefits. The commission, by a 2-1 vote, had denied the compensation claims because they weren't filed within two years of the deaths of their spouses.

Federal cover-up blamed for state denying workers' comp Nancy Meadows is a Cold War widow. Her husband worked at the uranium-enrichment plant near Piketon from 1955 to 1996, handling stuff that ended up in nuclear weapons. Joe Meadows and thousands of others toiled for decades amid radiation while the federal government knew -- but publicly denied -- that it was poisoning its work force. In 1999, after years of gobbling aspirin and seldom complaining, Joe Meadows died of cancer at age 60. More than two years later, federal officials admitted having exposed workers to radiation at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Mrs. Meadows and other survivors of dead workers later received $150,000 each in federal compensation.

The U.S. Department of Energy's uranium enrichment plant in Paducah will get money from the federal economic stimulus plan for environmental cleanup. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $6 billion in funding Tuesday to clean up DOE sites in 12 states. Kentucky's share is about $79 million. The estimated cost to clean up Paducah's gaseous diffusion plant has been increasing. The Department of Energy revised the cost last year from $7.27 billion to $13.8 billion. It's expected to take until 2040 to complete.

"Stuart Hinnefeld, interim director of NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health ) explained certain gaps in report presentations on the Huntington Pilot/Reduction Pilot Plant (HPP/RPP), as well as informed speculation related to data. This agency functions to handle radiation dose reconstructions for workers (or their survivors) applying for benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICPA). These benefits , in brief, provide compensation to Department of Energy (DOE) employees, its contractors or subcontractors, and atomic weapons workers with radiation induced cancer if the cancer developed after working at a covered facility (of which HPP/RPP is a covered facility) or the cancer is "determined at least as likely as not related to that employment) or the employee fits a Special Exposure Cohort (by working at least 250 days before February 1, 1992 at one or more gaseous diffusion plants or underground nuclear test at Amchitka, Alaska) and developed specified cancers. "

"Years after the Manhattan Project, the Department of Energy learned that workers exposed to nickel powder at various sites, including those at Oakridge, Pudacha, and Portsmouth Gaseous diffusion Plants, were at high risk. In fact, the data strongly suggested that women and African Americans were most susceptible. What did the DOE do? According to a paper, NUCLEAR POWDER/ NUCLEAR WEAPONS: The Untold Story, the agency in 1976 created a "political" study that falsified the true mortality for workers exposed to nickel power in the workplace. Urine testing had revealed purposefully negligent air monitoring. The nickel levels found in the urine of the K-25 workers were ten to hundreds of times higher than any other nickel workers in this country and around the world. In short, as the global warming emails have accused scientists, two-third (the women and African Americans) were excluded due to the government's need to have an outcome that would show workers unharmed by nickel dust. Waste handling operations at K-25 (Oak Ridge) nuclear waste operations --- and other locations --- reported hazy, smoky and foggy nickel dust conditions. "

"A group of landowners have settled in a long-running lawsuit for $1.75 million over allegations that water leaks from a western Kentucky uranium enrichment plant devalued property values. Edmund Schmidt, a Nashville, Tenn., attorney representing the landowners living near the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, about 10 miles west of Paducah, confirmed the settlement on Tuesday. Schmidt said the funds are aimed at compensating between 70 and 80 homeowners for the devaluation of their property because of radiation contamination. "Some of these people were skeptical if they'd ever see anything," Schmidt told The Associated Press."

Three members of the citizen board tasked with offering advice to the Department of Energy on its Piketon site submitted their resignations at a meeting Thursday night. Advertisement Lee Blackburn, Lorry Swain and Andrew Feight resigned at the start of a meeting of the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) at The Ohio State University Endeavor Center in Piketon. In addition, Board member Terry Smith left the meeting in frustration, and two residents who had applied for an open position on the board withdrew their applications. "Overshadowing all is our recognition that the SSAB mission has been obstructed by DOE's failure to abide by federal regulations and guard against conflicts of interest," said Swain, as she read from a letter the trio was submitting to Department of Energy Environmental Management Assistant Secretary Inés Triay.

Three members of the citizen board tasked with offering advice to the Department of Energy on its Piketon site submitted their resignations at a meeting Thursday night. Advertisement Lee Blackburn, Lorry Swain and Andrew Feight resigned at the start of a meeting of the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board (SSAB) at The Ohio State University Endeavor Center in Piketon. In addition, Board member Terry Smith left the meeting in frustration, and two residents who had applied for an open position on the board withdrew their applications. "Overshadowing all is our recognition that the SSAB mission has been obstructed by DOE's failure to abide by federal regulations and guard against conflicts of interest," said Swain, as she read from a letter the trio was submitting to Department of Energy Environmental Management Assistant Secretary Inés Triay.

No injuries and minor damage were reported in a Thursday fire in an inactive cooling tower at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant. Advertisement According to the Department of Energy, the fire was reported at 4:30 p.m. on the east side of the plant. At 5:15 p.m., the fire was said to have no off-site impact. The fire broke out in some decking of the cooling tower, which was being removed after high winds in Saturday's storms damaged the tower. The cooling tower is one of several at the site scheduled to be decontaminated and decommissioned in the coming months with aid from American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds.

Calling it the "beginning of the beginning," Duke Energy chairman, president and CEO James Rogers Thursday officially kicked off the effort to bring 400 to 700 new permanent jobs to Piketon within roughly the next decade. Advertisement The process will be pursued by a newly created partnership whose aim is to construct a new nuclear power facility in Piketon. And while it will take a considerable amount of time to complete, officials are hopeful it will lead the way to new life in a county that is presently facing 15.1 percent unemployment and routinely ranks among the highest jobless rates in the state. "It will, I think, help revitalize the economy of this part of the state," Gov. Ted Strickland said, adding that the project would make Ohio the only state including next-generation nuclear power production in its energy portfolio.