II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 650 

To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program 

Act of 2000 to provide for certain nuclear weapons program workers 

to be included in the Special Exposure Cohort under the compensation 

program established by that Act. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2007 

Mr. REID introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to provide for certain 

nuclear weapons program workers to be included in the 

Special Exposure Cohort under the compensation program established by that Act. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nevada Test Site Vet5 erans’ Compensation Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The contribution of the State of Nevada to 

2 the security of the United States throughout the 

3 Cold War and since has been unparalleled. 

4 (2) In 1950, President Harry S Truman des5 ignated what would later be called the Nevada Test 

6 Site as the country’s nuclear proving grounds and, 

7 a month later, the first atmospheric test at the Ne8 vada Test Site was detonated. 

9 (3) The United States conducted 100 above10 ground and 828 underground nuclear tests at the 

11 Nevada Test Site from 1951 to 1992. 

12 (4) Out of the 1,054 nuclear tests conducted in 

13 the United States, 928, or 88 percent, were con14 ducted at the Nevada Test Site. 

15 (5) The Nevada Test Site has served, and con16 tinues to serve, as the premier research, testing, and 

17 development site for the nuclear defense capabilities 

18 of the United States. 

19 (6) The Nevada Test Site and its workers are 

20 an essential and irreplaceable part of the Nation’s 

21 defense capabilities. 

22 (7) Individuals working on Cold War-era nu23 clear weapons programs were employed in facilities 

24 owned by the Federal Government and the private 

25 sector producing and testing nuclear weapons and 


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1 engaging in related atomic energy defense activities 

2 for the national defense beginning in the 1940s. 

3 (8) These Cold War atomic energy veterans 

4 helped to build and test the nuclear arsenal that 

5 served as a deterrent during the Cold War, sacri6 ficing their personal health and well-being in service 

7 to the United States. 

8 (9) During the Cold War, many of these work9 ers were exposed to radiation, beryllium, and silica, 

10 and were placed in harm’s way by the Department 

11 of Energy and contractors, subcontractors, and ven12 dors of the Department without the workers’ knowl13 edge or consent, without adequate radiation moni14 toring, and without necessary protections from inter15 nal or external occupational radiation exposure. 

16 (10) The Energy Employees Occupational Ill17 ness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 

18 7384 et seq.) (in this section referred to as 

19 ‘‘EEOICPA’’) was enacted to ensure fairness and 

20 equity for the men and women who, during the past 

21 60 years, performed duties uniquely related to the 

22 nuclear weapons production and testing programs of 

23 the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, 

24 and its contractors by establishing a program that 

25 would provide timely, uniform, and adequate comVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:07 Feb 20, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S650.IS S650

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1 pensation for beryllium- and radiation-related health 

2 conditions. 

3 (11) Research by the Department of Energy, 

4 the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

5 Health (NIOSH), NIOSH contractors, the Presi6 dent’s Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

7 Health, and congressional committees indicates that 

8 at certain nuclear weapons facilities— 

9 (A) workers were not adequately monitored 

10 for internal or external exposure to ionizing ra11 diation; and 

12 (B) records were not maintained, are not 

13 reliable, are incomplete, or fail to indicate the 

14 radioactive isotopes to which workers were ex15 posed. 

16 (12) Due to the inequities posed by the factors 

17 described above and the resulting harm to the work18 ers, Congress designated classes of atomic weapons 

19 employees at the Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, 

20 Ohio, Oak Ridge K–25, Tennessee, and the Am21 chitka Island, Alaska, sites as members of the Spe22 cial Exposure Cohort under EEOICPA. 

23 (13) It has become evident that it is not fea24 sible to estimate with sufficient accuracy in a timely 

25 manner the radiation dose received by employees at 


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1 the Department of Energy facility at the Nevada 

2 Test Site for many reasons, including the following: 

3 (A) The NIOSH Technical Basis Docu4 ment, the threshold document for radiation dose 

5 reconstruction under EEOICPA, has incomplete 

6 radionuclide lists. 

7 (B) NIOSH has not demonstrated that it 

8 can estimate dose from exposure to large, non9 respirable hot particles. 

10 (C) There are significant gaps in environ11 mental measurement and exposure data. 

12 (D) Resuspension doses have been seri13 ously underestimated. 

14 (E) NIOSH has not been able to estimate 

15 accurately exposures to bomb assembly workers 

16 and radon levels. 

17 (F) NIOSH has not demonstrated that it 

18 can accurately sample tritiated water vapor. 

19 (G) External dose records lack integrity. 

20 (H) There are no beta dose data from be21 fore 1966. 

22 (I) There are no neutron dose data from 

23 before 1966 and only partial data after such 

24 date. 


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1 (J) There are no internal dose data from 

2 before late 1955 or 1956, and limited data until 

3 well into the 1960s. 

4 (K) NIOSH has ignored exposure from 

5 more than a dozen underground tests that vent6 ed, including Blanca, Des Moines, Baneberry, 

7 Camphor, Diagonal Line, Riola, Agrini, Midas 

8 Myth, Misty Rain, and Mighty Oak. 

9 (L) Instead of monitoring individuals, 

10 groups were monitored, resulting in unreliable 

11 personnel monitoring. 

12 (14) Some Nevada Test Site workers, despite 

13 having worked with significant amounts of radio14 active materials and having known exposures leading 

15 to serious health effects, have been denied com16 pensation under EEOICPA as a result of flawed cal17 culations based on records that are incomplete or in 

18 error, or based on faulty assumptions and incorrect 

19 models. 

20 (15) Although basal cell carcinoma and chronic 

21 lymphocytic leukemia are both radiogenic cancers 

22 that employees at the Nevada Test Site may have 

23 contracted in the scope of their work, EEOICPA 

24 currently will not include individuals with basal cell 

25 carcinoma as members of the Special Exposure CoVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:07 Feb 20, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S650.IS S650

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1 hort, nor does it provide for compensation for em2 ployees with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. 

3 SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF CERTAIN NUCLEAR WEAPONS PRO4 GRAM WORKERS IN SPECIAL EXPOSURE CO5 HORT UNDER ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPA6 TIONAL ILLNESS COMPENSATION PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3621 of the Energy Em8 ployees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act 

9 of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384l) is amended— 

10 (1) in paragraph (9), by adding at the end the 

11 following new subparagraph: 

12 ‘‘(C) An individual described in paragraph 

13 (14)(D).’’; and 

14 (2) in paragraph (14), by adding at the end the 

15 following new subparagraph: 

16 ‘‘(D) The employee was so employed at the 

17 Nevada Test Site or other similar sites located 

18 in Nevada during the period beginning on Jan19 uary 1, 1950, and ending on December 31, 

20 1993, and contracted an occupational illness, 

21 basal cell carcinoma, or chronic lymphocytic 

22 leukemia, and, during such employment— 

23 ‘‘(i) was present during an atmos24 pheric or underground nuclear test or per25 formed drillbacks, tunnel re-entry, or 


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1 clean-up work following such a test (with2 out regard to the duration of employment); 

3 ‘‘(ii) was present at an event involving 

4 the venting of an underground test or dur5 ing a planned or unplanned radiation re6 lease (without regard to the duration of 

7 employment); 

8 ‘‘(iii) was present during testing or 

9 post-test activities related to nuclear rocket 

10 or ramjet engine testing at the Nevada 

11 Test Site (without regard to the duration 

12 of employment); 

13 ‘‘(iv) was assigned to work at Area 51 

14 or other classified program areas of the 

15 Nevada Test Site (without regard to the 

16 duration of employment); or 

17 ‘‘(v) was employed at the Nevada Test 

18 Site, and was employed in a job activity 

19 that— 

20 ‘‘(I) was monitored for exposure 

21 to ionizing radiation; or 

22 ‘‘(II) was comparable to a job 

23 that is, was, or should have been mon24 itored for exposure to ionizing radi25 ation at the Nevada Test Site.’’. 


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1 (b) DEADLINE FOR CLAIMS ADJUDICATION.—Claims 

2 for compensation under section 3621(14)(D) of the En3 ergy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Pro4 gram Act of 2000, as added by subsection (a), shall be 

5 adjudicated and a final decision issued— 

6 (1) in the case of claims pending as of the date 

7 of the enactment of this Act, not later than 30 days 

8 after such date; and 

9 (2) in the case of claims filed after the date of 

10 the enactment of this Act, not later than 30 days 

11 after the date of such filing. 

Æ 


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