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HANFORD The Department of Labor has done the initial screening of about 1,200 cases that may be newly eligible for compensation because of illnesses caused by exposure to radiation at Hanford.
Those include cases that had previously been denied in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program and claims that were pending, said Rachel Leiton, director of the program division at the Department of Labor on Tuesday.
"We want to make sure if (a claim) can be accepted, it's accepted as quickly as possible," she said.
She spoke at the first of three meetings Tuesday and today in Kennewick to provide information about the compensation program, including new eased rules for workers with cancer or their survivors. About 125 people attended.
The compensation pays $150,000 to Hanford or Pacific Northwest Na-tional Laboratory workers with cancer due to workplace exposure to radiation or who have a lung disease from exposure to beryllium, a metal used at Hanford.
Under the new eased rule, called a special exposure cohort, workers at Hanford who may have been exposed to radiation should automatically qualify for compensation if they worked for 250 days from Oct. 1, 1943, through June 30, 1972, and developed certain cancers. The list of cancers includes 22 that have been linked to radiation exposure by medical research.
Two previous special exposure cohorts covered fewer years or required workers to have been assigned to specific parts of Hanford. If workers are not covered by a special exposure cohort, they face a tougher standard for compensation. Their radiation exposure is estimated and the federal government has to conclude there was at least a 50 percent chance the radiation caused the cancer.
The new eased rules cover the 586 square miles of the Hanford nuclear reservation. But they do not cover what the federal government calls the 700 and 1100 areas, Leiton said. That includes the federal building in Richland and an area south of Horn Rapids Road, where some workers were assigned.
However, the Department of Labor will work with the Department of Energy to determine if those workers spent at least 250 days on the Hanford site as part of their jobs, she said.
Although the latest special exposure cohort only extends through 1972, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health is reviewing whether workers at Hanford as recently as the mid '90s also should be eligible, she said.
Special exposure cohorts are formed when the federal government concludes that too little information exists to reliably estimate radiation exposure for groups of workers.
People who don't have cancers covered by the special exposure cohort or do not fall within its time frame still may file claims and have their exposure estimated.
People with existing claims do not have to refile, but should update their claims if additional diseases has been diagnosed or they have worked additional days at Hanford since the original claim was filed.
Two more meetings will be held today at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel, N. 1101 Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick.
In addition to information on the new special exposure cohort, information also will be available about the second part of the compensation program, which offers compensation for impairment or lost wages due to a wide variety of illnesses caused by exposure to radiation or hazardous chemicals. Medical costs also are covered under both parts of the program.
For more information call the Hanford Resource Center at 509-946-3333 or 888-654-0014.
-- Annette Cary: 509-582-1533; acary@tricityherald.com; More Hanford news at hanfordnews.com.
