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Less than 10 percent of former Hanford construction workers who likely would qualify for compensation for illnesses have applied to a federal program, said a Building Trades National Medical Screening Program official. Representatives of the program held a meeting in Pasco on Wednesday night to discuss the screening and a Department of Labor program that provides compensation for Hanford workers who developed illnesses because of exposure to radiation or hazardous chemicals at the nuclear reservation. Nearly 100 attended. As many as 25,000 former Hanford building trades workers may have developed illnesses covered by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, said Knut Ringen, principal investigator for the building trades screening program. But he estimated that less than 10 percent of those have applied.

Less than 10 percent of former Hanford construction workers who likely would qualify for compensation for illnesses have applied to a federal program, said a Building Trades National Medical Screening Program official. Representatives of the program held a meeting in Pasco on Wednesday night to discuss the screening and a Department of Labor program that provides compensation for Hanford workers who developed illnesses because of exposure to radiation or hazardous chemicals at the nuclear reservation. Nearly 100 attended. As many as 25,000 former Hanford building trades workers may have developed illnesses covered by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, said Knut Ringen, principal investigator for the building trades screening program. But he estimated that less than 10 percent of those have applied.

The secretive JASON group of academic physicists have given a thumbs up to the current program of refurbishing nuclear warheads in the U.S. stockpile instead of building new, more reliable ones. The report should bolster efforts by the Obama Administration to keep dead the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, a Bush-era program to build new nukes. Bush's Energy Department and Pentagon officials had argued that flaws in the refurbishment program were a key rationale for new bombs, but Obama disagreed. (Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a holdover, tried to revive the program this past summer, but failed.) The strong endorsement of the status quo by JASON, says Arms Control Wonk: should drive a stake through the heart of the RRW and warhead "replacement" in general. They turned back arguments that refurbishment efforts-known as Life Extension Programs- introduced enough changes to the bombs so as to raise questions about their effectiveness: JASON finds no evidence that accumulation of changes incurred from aging and LEPs have increased risk to certification of today's deployed nuclear warheads.

The secretive JASON group of academic physicists have given a thumbs up to the current program of refurbishing nuclear warheads in the U.S. stockpile instead of building new, more reliable ones. The report should bolster efforts by the Obama Administration to keep dead the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, a Bush-era program to build new nukes. Bush's Energy Department and Pentagon officials had argued that flaws in the refurbishment program were a key rationale for new bombs, but Obama disagreed. (Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a holdover, tried to revive the program this past summer, but failed.) The strong endorsement of the status quo by JASON, says Arms Control Wonk: should drive a stake through the heart of the RRW and warhead "replacement" in general. They turned back arguments that refurbishment efforts-known as Life Extension Programs- introduced enough changes to the bombs so as to raise questions about their effectiveness: JASON finds no evidence that accumulation of changes incurred from aging and LEPs have increased risk to certification of today's deployed nuclear warheads.

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.

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.

The U.S. Department of Energy today released a fiscal year 2010 budget request that increases funding for developing next-generation nuclear power plants and used nuclear fuel recycling, but does little to support construction of reactors that are expected to be built over the next two decades, according to The Nuclear Energy Institute. The FY10 budget proposal -- the first released by the Obama Administration -- also cuts funding for DOE's used nuclear fuel management program to $196.8 million, only $98.4 million of it from the federal Nuclear Waste Fund. The fund, established in 1983 to finance the federal government's program to manage used nuclear fuel, is paid for by users of nuclear-generated electricity through a monthly surcharge on their electric bills. The $196.8 million request is only one-fifth of the interest that accrues annually on the $22 billion fund. The Nuclear Power 2010 program -- a cost-shared, industry-government partnership designed to reduce the technical and regulatory uncertainties associated with construction of advanced nuclear power plant designs -- would receive only $20 million in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The program receives $177 million in the current year, a sum matched by industry. The industry intends to invest $121 million in the program in FY10 and had expected DOE to match that commitment, which would complete the program.

Today, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the issue of a final rule amending the Department of Energy's regulations for its Loan Guarantee Program. The revised rule will allow for increased participation in the program by financial institutions and other investors and enable the support of more innovative energy technologies in the United States. "This much needed change will provide greater flexibility to the Loan Guarantee Program and help us to support more projects at a better value to taxpayers," said Secretary Chu. "This is part of our commitment to ensuring businesses are able to access the support they need to create jobs and contribute to a clean energy economy." Under the rule change, the Loan Guarantee Program will be able to consider financing projects together with other lenders and will be able to provide loan guarantees to projects with multiple participants (who may hold undivided interests in a project). As an example, export credit agencies and other financial institutions will now be able to provide financing to complement Title XVII loans and loan guarantees. This approach will result in lowered risk and potential costs to taxpayers.

Today, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the issue of a final rule amending the Department of Energy's regulations for its Loan Guarantee Program. The revised rule will allow for increased participation in the program by financial institutions and other investors and enable the support of more innovative energy technologies in the United States. "This much needed change will provide greater flexibility to the Loan Guarantee Program and help us to support more projects at a better value to taxpayers," said Secretary Chu. "This is part of our commitment to ensuring businesses are able to access the support they need to create jobs and contribute to a clean energy economy." Under the rule change, the Loan Guarantee Program will be able to consider financing projects together with other lenders and will be able to provide loan guarantees to projects with multiple participants (who may hold undivided interests in a project). As an example, export credit agencies and other financial institutions will now be able to provide financing to complement Title XVII loans and loan guarantees. This approach will result in lowered risk and potential costs to taxpayers.

"U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch is asking a national panel to take a fresh look at the science behind the government's program for compensating people who were injured by exposure to atomic-testing fallout and the uranium industry. Sponsor of the original Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), Hatch put the request in a letter Monday to the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences. His letter comes two weeks after the Utah Republican panned bipartisan legislation in Congress to expand RECA as overbroad and too expensive. "When I worked to enact the original RECA law to help Utahns exposed to radiation, the policy was based on scientific evidence -- an absolute must when you're talking about Hatch RECA letter (pdf) these types of programs," he said Tuesday. "The goal of the letter to the National Academy of Sciences [NAS] is to see whether or not new scientific data exists to justify expanding the RECA program; in the past it did not," he added. "I want NAS to examine the data and talk with Utah radiation victims to see if that is justified before anyone puts more taxpayer dollars on the line." Companion bills in the House and the Senate would expand RECA eligibility to those who suffered from exposure in seven states: New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. Only those in certain counties in three states are now eligible to apply for payments from the fund of $50,000, $100,000 or $150,000, depending Advertisement on whether they were exposed as millers, miners, ore transporters, atomic program employees or downwinders. The Utah counties now covered include: Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington and Wayne. The federal government's current program has paid nearly $1.5 billion to more than 22,000 people. Some 4,776 of them are Utahns who have received nearly $275 million from the federal program. "

- The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today released the executive summary of a new report that should put an end to claims that new nuclear weapons are required to maintain a safe, secure and reliable nuclear arsenal, according to experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). "This new scientific report should be the final nail in the coffin for proposals to build new nuclear weapons," said Stephen Young, senior analyst in the Global Security Program at UCS. "The report finds that we can maintain our nuclear weapons indefinitely by simply continuing to do what we are already doing." The report, by a prominent, independent scientific panel called the JASON group, concluded that the United States can maintain current high levels of safety, security and reliability indefinitely without designing a new generation of warheads or testing current warheads. The panel found that the arsenal can be maintained by two existing programs: the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which monitors the arsenal for signs of aging, and the Life-Extension Program, which refurbishes existing warheads with new components.

- The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today released the executive summary of a new report that should put an end to claims that new nuclear weapons are required to maintain a safe, secure and reliable nuclear arsenal, according to experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). "This new scientific report should be the final nail in the coffin for proposals to build new nuclear weapons," said Stephen Young, senior analyst in the Global Security Program at UCS. "The report finds that we can maintain our nuclear weapons indefinitely by simply continuing to do what we are already doing." The report, by a prominent, independent scientific panel called the JASON group, concluded that the United States can maintain current high levels of safety, security and reliability indefinitely without designing a new generation of warheads or testing current warheads. The panel found that the arsenal can be maintained by two existing programs: the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which monitors the arsenal for signs of aging, and the Life-Extension Program, which refurbishes existing warheads with new components.

The federal government should take steps to make a program for ill nuclear workers easier to understand and to contact more workers or their survivors who might be eligible for compensation, said an annual report to Congress. A large percentage of the people who contact the Office of the Ombudsman for Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program "simply want assistance processing their claim," said the office in its recently released report on 2008. Others have complaints about the limits placed on benefits to survivors if the worker has died, their treatment by the office that administers the program or about diseases they believe have been incorrectly excluded from the program. Part E of the program offers workers at Hanford and other nuclear sites up to $250,000 for wage loss and impairment caused by exposure to toxic substances, which could include radiation, chemicals, solvents, acids and metals.

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.

Terrie Barrie of the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups passed along a link for an OMB assessment of the Energy Employees Occupational Illnesss Compensation Program. It's part of ExpectMore.gov. The program's overall grade was "Adequate," with scores of 60 percent for program purpose and design; 50 percent for strategic planning; 86 percent for program management; and 53 percent for program results/accountability. The review was done in 2007. Here's the link. The Government Accountability Office is currently conducting an assessment of the compensation program, which has been dogged by criticism and controversy.

The time has come for change in the federal compensation program for sick nuclear weapons workers, two men who have held key roles in the program said this week. More than 165,000 sick workers or their survivors - including more than 10,000 from the former Rocky Flats site near Denver - have applied to the eight-year-old compensation program. The aid program, which has been subject to multiple congressional hearings, also was the subject of a three-part investigative series in the Rocky Mountain News last week called "Deadly denial."

"External oversight of program needed 'sooner rather than later,' advocates say Advocates for sick nuclear workers called for immediate oversight of the Department of Labor program that compensates them for work-related illnesses, in response to a Government Accountability Office report released last week which made the same recommendation. Ames Laboratory, a government-owned, contractor-operated research facility of the U.S. Department of Energy that is run by Iowa State University. The Alliance of Nuclear Workers Advocacy Groups (ANWAG) said it fully supports the GAO's recommendation to provide external oversight to the Energy Employee's Occupational Illness Compensation Act (EEOICPA). "The GAO's call for scientific oversight…is no small matter. It challenges the current program leadership's understanding of the complexity of the issues and highlights their unwillingness to assure the scientific integrity of the decision. GAO's recommendations support ANWAG's contention that program decisions are often arbitrary and capricious, and without scientific basis." said the group in a response statement last week."

Terrie Barrie of the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups circulated a Dec. 30 letter she received from Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada regarding the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. As for the earlier request he and other senators made for a comprehensive investigation of the federal program, Reid wrote, "I am pleased to let you know that GAO is giving priority status to our request. In fact, I was recently informed that the investigation is already under way, and I plan to closely monitor its progress." Reid said the findings of that GAO investigation would used for develop reforms of the program in the 111th Congress. He said he and Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico had recently asked NIOSH to establish a new online system to make it easier for claimants to check the status of their applications. "As a result of our persistence, NIOSH set up a special form at the following Web site: http://www2a.cdc.gov/ocas/status.html.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has signed the designation that adds the 1950s employees at Oak Ridge Hospital -- when the hospital was being used for pioneering cancer treatments with radiation -- as a "Special Exposure Cohort" in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness and Compensation Program. The SEC status makes it easier for workers with cancer to collect under the compensation program. The designation was forwarded to Congress and will become effective Jan. 9, unless Congress acts on it prior to that date, according to NIOSH spokeswoman Shannon Bradford.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has signed the designation that adds the 1950s employees at Oak Ridge Hospital -- when the hospital was being used for pioneering cancer treatments with radiation -- as a "Special Exposure Cohort" in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness and Compensation Program. The SEC status makes it easier for workers with cancer to collect under the compensation program. The designation was forwarded to Congress and will become effective Jan. 9, unless Congress acts on it prior to that date, according to NIOSH spokeswoman Shannon Bradford.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has signed the designation that adds the 1950s employees at Oak Ridge Hospital -- when the hospital was being used for pioneering cancer treatments with radiation -- as a "Special Exposure Cohort" in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness and Compensation Program. The SEC status makes it easier for workers with cancer to collect under the compensation program. The designation was forwarded to Congress and will become effective Jan. 9, unless Congress acts on it prior to that date, according to NIOSH spokeswoman Shannon Bradford.

"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." "

"Several Western senators have introduced a bill seeking to triple the compensation for downwind cancer victims of Cold War atomic testing. The bill would also make it easier to prove claims and would expand eligibility for compensation payments to all of Utah - instead of just 10 counties that now qualify. But opposing the changes is Sen. Orrin Hatch - co-author of the original 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act that created such compensation. "I fear it is overly broad and prohibitively expensive," he said, worrying that high costs might sink the program in budget battles and take current compensation programs with them. Hatch added, "I also believe it is important to continue to base any expansion of the program on sound science" - and add only those changes warranted by new scientific findings."

The United Arab Emirates has informed the United Nations that the law it has passed recently on the peaceful use of nuclear energy was an important step to embody a peaceful nature to all aspects of its nuclear program which will come into commercial operation in 2017, adding that the move is aimed at benefiting from nuclear program for peaceful purposes, particularly in generating electricity and improving medical and industrial services. Addressing the First Committee on "Disarmament and International Security" during the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly, the UAE's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ahmed Al-Jarman, outlined his country's stance on current development on global security. He said the holding of the present 64th session of the General Assembly coincides with a number of positive developments and encouraging initiatives which have taken place in the area of disarmament, most notably of which is the agreement reached in the Disarmament Conference held last May on the program of work of the Conference after a decade of deadlock.

The United Arab Emirates has informed the United Nations that the law it has passed recently on the peaceful use of nuclear energy was an important step to embody a peaceful nature to all aspects of its nuclear program which will come into commercial operation in 2017, adding that the move is aimed at benefiting from nuclear program for peaceful purposes, particularly in generating electricity and improving medical and industrial services. Addressing the First Committee on "Disarmament and International Security" during the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly, the UAE's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ahmed Al-Jarman, outlined his country's stance on current development on global security. He said the holding of the present 64th session of the General Assembly coincides with a number of positive developments and encouraging initiatives which have taken place in the area of disarmament, most notably of which is the agreement reached in the Disarmament Conference held last May on the program of work of the Conference after a decade of deadlock.

According to info distributed by the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups, ANWAG and the action groups at Linde Ceramics are petitioning NIOSH and the Dept. of Labor to make rules changes in the administration of the sick nuclear worker compensation program. "Congress never intended this program to develop into the ongoing and overwhelming burden it has become for sickened nuclear weapons workers or their survivors," Terrie Barrie of ANWAG said in a statement. "Congress was well aware when they passed EEOICPA that the Department of Energy did not keep adequate exposure records, particularly for chemicals and heavy metals. Yet, DOL requires claimants to provide proof of exposure where none exists. It is long past due to return this program to the original intent of the law."

According to info distributed by the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups, ANWAG and the action groups at Linde Ceramics are petitioning NIOSH and the Dept. of Labor to make rules changes in the administration of the sick nuclear worker compensation program. "Congress never intended this program to develop into the ongoing and overwhelming burden it has become for sickened nuclear weapons workers or their survivors," Terrie Barrie of ANWAG said in a statement. "Congress was well aware when they passed EEOICPA that the Department of Energy did not keep adequate exposure records, particularly for chemicals and heavy metals. Yet, DOL requires claimants to provide proof of exposure where none exists. It is long past due to return this program to the original intent of the law."

"Utah's radiation programs have new leaders. The new director of the Radiation Control Division is Rusty Lundberg, who has worked in the state's solid waste and sustainability programs. Lundberg replaces Dane Finerfrock, who has led radiation programs for the past seven years and retires at the month's end. "Rusty has excellent management and leadership skills," said Utah Department of Environmental Quality Director Amanda Smith, "and will do an outstanding job in the Division of Radiation Control." Lundberg has been with DEQ for 25 years, serving for more than 15 years as the branch manager overseeing solid waste for the Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste."

Did you know that the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) was enacted to provide compensation and medical benefits to employees who worked at certain Department of Energy (DOE) facilities, including contractors and subcontractors at those locations, and certain of its vendors? During the Cold War, workers employed in the nation's atomic weapons program or other programs may have been exposed to radioactive and toxic substances. As a result, the EEOICPA is intended to benefits to eligible employees and former employees of the U.S. DOE, its contractors and subcontractors, or to certain survivors of such individuals.