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"Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) commented today on the findings of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report he requested on the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA). The EEOICPA provides compensation to workers and their survivors for occupational diseases arising from toxic and radiation exposure in the government's nuclear weapons program. Several Iowans who worked on the Department of Energy's Line 1 are currently pursuing claims with the Department of Labor (DOL) through the EEOICPA. "I requested an audit of this program after constituents reported delayed compensation, difficulty navigating the program and inconsistencies with the adjudication process," Senator Harkin said. "Some claimants had to wait three years just for the government to rule on their case, and that's unacceptable. The recommendations the GAO makes in this report will help the DOL be more responsive to affected workers, and I am currently looking at the best way to implement these fixes." "

A 40-year time frame for cleaning up all of the toxins at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant means the work of contractors seems to go at a snail's pace. Their work is further hindered by the inability to work in the winter months, when the soil and water they need to test and clean are frozen solid. However, in the five months since the IAAP Restoration Advisory Board last met, in their own small way each of the programs made progress. The board passed their updates on to the public during a meeting Thursday evening.

Had it. Fought it. Survived it. The words are stamped on the back of one of Paul Bell's T-shirts. "It" means his battle with kidney cancer 30 years ago, but the motto on a T-shirt he wore at a 2008 cancer walk could just as easily symbolize the 87-year-old Burlington man's struggle to get compensated for working on Line 1 at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant.

FPL Energy Duane Arnold, LLC; Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for Renewal of Duane Arnold Energy Center Facility Operating License No. DPR-49 for an Additional 20-Year Period The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) has received an application, dated September 30, 2008, FPL Energy Duane Arnold, LLC, filed pursuant to Section 104b of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 54 (10 CFR Part 54), to renew the operating license for the Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC).

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced today that an application for a 20-year renewal of the operating license for the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant is available for public review. The Duane Arnold Energy Center has one boiling water reactor, and is located 8 miles northwest of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The current operating license expires Feb. 21, 2014. Duane Arnold's operator, the FPL Energy Duane Arnold, LLC, submitted the application Oct. 1. The application is available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/duane-arnold-energy-center.html. A copy is also available at the Hiawatha Public Library, 150 W. Willman St., in Hiawatha, Iowa. The NRC staff is currently conducting its initial review of the application to determine whether it contains sufficient information required for the safety and environmental reviews. If the application has sufficient information, the NRC will formally "docket," or file it and will announce an opportunity for the public to request an adjudicatory hearing on the renewal request. Additional information about the NRC's process for reviewing reactor license renewal applications is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html.

Free health screenings, available through University of Iowa studies of both Army and Department of Energy workers at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant are continuing through this fall. Researchers are continuing to enroll people in the IAAP Munitions Workers Study. One aim of the research study, directed by Laurence Fuortes, M.D., professor of occupational and environmental health, is to assess exposure to beryllium alloys among conventional weapons workers at the plant. Participants also will be asked to complete a brief questionnaire and to provide a blood sample for analysis of beryllium sensitivity. Participation requires a 30- to 45-minute time commitment. Compensation is provided.

Free health screenings, available through the University of Iowa, for those who worked for the Department of Defense at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, will wrap up in the next two to three months, and researchers are looking for another 200 participants. The program, initiated about two years ago, includes screening of sensitization to beryllium alloy and also aims to assess exposure to beryllium alloys among conventional weapons workers at the plant.

During the Vietnam War, the hell that was soldiers' daily lives sometimes was complicated by their exposure to plastic explosives and their neurotoxic effects. Back home, munitions workers faced similar nightmares. Though not wandering the jungle in search of Viet Cong, workers on the front lines at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant knew that at any moment they could be injured or die in an explosion. And those who were lucky or smart enough to survive could have ended up like Mary Ludlow. Ludlow, a Wisconsin resident, worked two stints at the plant in the late-1960s, totaling about six months. Ludlow left the plant a second time, and for good, when her then-husband decided to pursue a graduate degree at Iowa State University in Ames.

During the Vietnam War, the hell that was soldiers' daily lives sometimes was complicated by their exposure to plastic explosives and their neurotoxic effects. Back home, munitions workers faced similar nightmares. Though not wandering the jungle in search of Viet Cong, workers on the front lines at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant knew that at any moment they could be injured or die in an explosion. And those who were lucky or smart enough to survive could have ended up like Mary Ludlow. Ludlow, a Wisconsin resident, worked two stints at the plant in the late-1960s, totaling about six months. Ludlow left the plant a second time, and for good, when her then-husband decided to pursue a graduate degree at Iowa State University in Ames.

During the Vietnam War, the hell that was soldiers' daily lives sometimes was complicated by their exposure to plastic explosives and their neurotoxic effects. Back home, munitions workers faced similar nightmares. Though not wandering the jungle in search of Viet Cong, workers on the front lines at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant knew that at any moment they could be injured or die in an explosion. And those who were lucky or smart enough to survive could have ended up like Mary Ludlow. Ludlow, a Wisconsin resident, worked two stints at the plant in the late-1960s, totaling about six months. Ludlow left the plant a second time, and for good, when her then-husband decided to pursue a graduate degree at Iowa State University in Ames.

New legislation introduced this year could prevent problems Paul Bell, and many other former Iowa Army Ammunition Plant workers have had over the years trying to get compensation through the EEOICPA. Advertisement The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act was passed in 2000. While amendments have been made -- and responsibility for the program has shifted from the Department of Energy to the Department of Labor -- still fewer than a third of applicants receive compensation. That's why the presidents of construction and metal trades unions and the University of Iowa Atomic Energy Commission Plant-Former Workers Program are supporting the Charlie Wolf Nuclear Employees Compensation Act that can help former workers get the payment they're due.

Leonard W. Duke survived being dragged by a truck when he was 7. Doctors said he wouldn't make it. As he grew older, three doctors subsequently told him he wouldn't live to be 30, another 10 years and to be 50. At 81, he's healthier than many of his fellow former Line 1 workers. Since doctors long have predicted his demise, Duke is not keen on visits to the doctor's office, even after he's suffered some recent dizziness. He does, however, trust Laurence Fuortes and his staff at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health's Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant-Former Worker Program. During a luncheon Thursday that honored former Iowa Army Ammunition workers who worked on Line 1 where secret atomic weapons were assembled between 1947 and 1975, people like Duke visited with fellow plant workers and the University of Iowa staff.

Leonard W. Duke survived being dragged by a truck when he was 7. Doctors said he wouldn't make it. As he grew older, three doctors subsequently told him he wouldn't live to be 30, another 10 years and to be 50. At 81, he's healthier than many of his fellow former Line 1 workers. Since doctors long have predicted his demise, Duke is not keen on visits to the doctor's office, even after he's suffered some recent dizziness. He does, however, trust Laurence Fuortes and his staff at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health's Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant-Former Worker Program. During a luncheon Thursday that honored former Iowa Army Ammunition workers who worked on Line 1 where secret atomic weapons were assembled between 1947 and 1975, people like Duke visited with fellow plant workers and the University of Iowa staff.

Leonard W. Duke survived being dragged by a truck when he was 7. Doctors said he wouldn't make it. As he grew older, three doctors subsequently told him he wouldn't live to be 30, another 10 years and to be 50. At 81, he's healthier than many of his fellow former Line 1 workers. Since doctors long have predicted his demise, Duke is not keen on visits to the doctor's office, even after he's suffered some recent dizziness. He does, however, trust Laurence Fuortes and his staff at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health's Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant-Former Worker Program. During a luncheon Thursday that honored former Iowa Army Ammunition workers who worked on Line 1 where secret atomic weapons were assembled between 1947 and 1975, people like Duke visited with fellow plant workers and the University of Iowa staff.

"President Barack Obama, acting on a pledge to support nuclear power, will propose tripling U.S. loan guarantees for new reactors to more than $54 billion, an administration official said. The additional loan guarantees in Obama's budget, which will be released Feb. 1, are part of an effort to bolster nuclear-power production after the president called for doing so in his State of the Union address Jan. 27. In a conference call with reporters, Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced a panel to find a solution to storing the waste generated by nuclear plants. "

"Reform of troubled federal program awaits another in a long line of GAO studies On Oct. 30, 2009, the nation observed the first Cold War Patriots National Day of Remembrance, dedicated to those who served their country working in jobs relating to the nuclear weapons program. While the U.S. Senate resolution for the National Day of Remembrance was approved by unanimous consent, a bill addressing problems in the federal program designed to help nuclear workers with what they say they need most - medical benefits and compensation for illnesses that were caused by on-the-job exposures to radiation and toxic substances - remains stuck in a Senate committee awaiting another in a long list of studies from the Government Accountability Office detailing its shortcomings."

"The Iowa Sierra Club reports that 330 Iowans have asked Gov. Chet Culver to veto a bill that would allow utilities to charge customers for a feasibility study on future nuclear plants in the state. Here's the full release: Des Moines - In response to the House and the Senate passing House File 2399, a bill that will allow utilities to charge their customers to pay for nuclear power feasibility, more than 330 Iowans wrote to Governor Chet Culver calling on him to veto the bill. MidAmerican Energy wants to charge its customers $15 million to examine the achievability of constructing a new nuclear power plant in Iowa. HF2399 provides changes in the law that governs the Iowa Utilities Board's rules for determining electricity rates, setting the stage for MidAmerican Energy - and other utilities - to pay for costs associated with studying and planning a new facility, including one that could transition away from coal before construction begins."

"Iowa Gov. Chet Culver signed a measure Wednesday that calls for a study that would look at where a nuclear power plant could be built in the state, saying nuclear power will be a part of the state's energy portfolio. Culver signed the measure at the Des Moines offices of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He said expanding the nuclear energy industry in Iowa could create jobs, both in the construction and operation of a plant. The measure calls for the study to be funded by public utility companies, but Culver says the cost to consumers would be small. It excludes rural electric cooperatives. Iowa is currently home to just one nuclear power plant, the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo in eastern Iowa."

"Though multiple doctors weigh in, an administrator makes final medical decisions on sick nuke worker's claim Imagine being sent to get a second medical opinion about your fatal lung disease from the same doctor you went to the first time. Then imagine having the differences of opinion between multiple doctors about your fatal condition resolved by someone who is not a doctor. It happened to Michael Fellinger, a former worker at the Ames Laboratory whose widow, Bo Fellinger, is struggling to get compensation from a Department of Labor program intended to help those sickened by their work in our nation's nuclear weapons program. Occupational health specialists around the country who work with claimants say they routinely have their opinions trumped by medical consultants with too little expertise and too much authority. They are calling for an independent oversight board to be established, either by congressional legislation or by the Department of Labor itself, to improve the claims process."

Carla McCabe spent a decade building nuclear bombs at the sprawling Rocky Flats complex near Denver. When she developed a brain tumor and asked for help, federal officials told her none of the toxic substances used at the top-secret bomb factory could have caused her cancer. Now, eight years after the federal program was created to help sick nuclear weapons workers, the man who until recently was the program's top doctor says McCabe, 55, and many others like her are being improperly rejected. The doctor, Eugene Schwartz, recently resigned and said many of the complaints workers, advocates and lawmakers have leveled at the controversial program are valid. For instance, Schwartz said he repeatedly warned the U.S. Department of Labor that it is ignoring established medical knowledge about the dangers of bomb work.

Carla McCabe spent a decade building nuclear bombs at the sprawling Rocky Flats complex near Denver. When she developed a brain tumor and asked for help, federal officials told her none of the toxic substances used at the top-secret bomb factory could have caused her cancer. Now, eight years after the federal program was created to help sick nuclear weapons workers, the man who until recently was the program's top doctor says McCabe, 55, and many others like her are being improperly rejected. The doctor, Eugene Schwartz, recently resigned and said many of the complaints workers, advocates and lawmakers have leveled at the controversial program are valid. For instance, Schwartz said he repeatedly warned the U.S. Department of Labor that it is ignoring established medical knowledge about the dangers of bomb work.

Former IAAP worker hopes compensation denials come to end John Rowe is learning the hard way that two out of three isn't enough. The longtime Burlington resident has been denied compensation since 2003 from a federal program for former atomic energy workers. While he still has one application pending -- for a brain tumor near his pituitary gland -- Rowe isn't optimistic that this time will be any different than before. Rowe, 82, has been experiencing deja vu since his first denial on May 6, 2004. The letters are always the same. The Department of Labor agrees he worked at the Iowa Ordnance Plant more than the requisite length of time and that he's a very sick man. But the department doesn't see a link between his illnesses and work on Line 1.

Former IAAP worker hopes compensation denials come to end John Rowe is learning the hard way that two out of three isn't enough. The longtime Burlington resident has been denied compensation since 2003 from a federal program for former atomic energy workers. While he still has one application pending -- for a brain tumor near his pituitary gland -- Rowe isn't optimistic that this time will be any different than before. Rowe, 82, has been experiencing deja vu since his first denial on May 6, 2004. The letters are always the same. The Department of Labor agrees he worked at the Iowa Ordnance Plant more than the requisite length of time and that he's a very sick man. But the department doesn't see a link between his illnesses and work on Line 1.

Many former atomic energy workers in southeast Iowa practically have to beg for compensation under the federal program specifically designed for them. Advertisement 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."

Many former atomic energy workers in southeast Iowa practically have to beg for compensation under the federal program specifically designed for them. Advertisement 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."