Radiation Compensation Programs

Past actions have not shown responsibility on the part of either the nuclear industry or the governments in the conduct of this enterprise. Instead, they demonstrate a reckless disregard for ordinary citizens. To be fair, some government “compensation” programs have been created many years after the events; but they were generally too little, too late. Some examples are:

(1) Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) administered by the Department of Justice provides limited “compensation” payments to Downwinders, uranium miners and millers, and on-site participants at the nation’s nuclear tests. This program provides a one-time payment of $50,000 to residents of certain counties downwind of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), during the 1950s, who contracted one of twenty specific cancers. The program also provides compensation to the uranium miners, millers and ore transporters in the American West. It also provides $75,000 one time compensation payments to on-site participants at the nation’s nuclear tests.

(2) Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP) administered by the Department of Labor which provides a one-time payment of $150,000 to ill workers in the nation’s nuclear complex. It also provides reimbursement for medical expenses incurred by these workers

(3) The Department of Veterans Affairs provides some payments to atomic veterans who were on-site participants at the NTS and in the Pacific. This program grants VA compensation benefits to some veterans exposed to radiation while on active duty.

The US Government has also negotiated a Compact of Free Association with the government of the Marshall Islands which includes some limited payments to residents of certain islands who were displaced or injured when the US Pacific nuclear tests were conducted.

All these payments total in the billions of dollars but still represent only a small fraction of the total damages incurred by the victims. Private insurance policies exclude damages from radiological and nuclear events, so there does not appear to be any compensation program in place in this country to reimburse the victims of a potential nuclear accident at a nuclear power plant or fuel storage facility for their losses. This has certainly been the case for the more than one hundred thousand people in Japan displaced by the Fukushima disaster. In the USA there is not even a true national health care system to take care of people injured by radioactive contamination. This amounts to a transfer of costs in the event of an accident from the nuclear operators to the victims, since they must pay for their own medical care.

Government Compensation Websites

DoJ RECA Downwinders Compensation

DoL Radiation Workers Compensation

Atomic Veterans Compensation