II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2139

To provide coverage under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program for individuals employed at atomic weapons employer 

facilities during periods of residual contamination. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2004

Mrs. CLINTON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL

To provide coverage under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program for individuals employed at atomic weapons employer facilities during periods of residual contamination.

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 ‘‘Residual Radioactive 

5 Contamination Compensation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) Beginning in the early 1940s, the Depart2 ment of Energy and its predecessors, the Atomic 

3 Energy Commission and the Manhattan Engineering 

4 District, relied upon hundreds of private-sector fac5 tories and laboratories to develop, test, and produce 

6 atomic weapons for use by the military, and these 

7 facilities became contaminated with radioactive ma8 terials during the process of producing material used 

9 for atomic weapons production. 

10 (2) The Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

11 Compensation Program Act of 2000 (in this section 

12 referred to as ‘‘EEOICPA’’) provides health care 

13 and lump-sum benefits for radiation-related cancers 

14 and other illnesses to certain covered workers made 

15 sick while they toiled in the nation’s nuclear weap16 ons factories, including vendor facilities. EEOICPA 

17 defines these private-sector vendor facilities as 

18 ‘‘atomic weapons employer facilities’’, and employees 

19 working in such facilities while their employers were 

20 under contract to process nuclear weapons materials 

21 are defined as ‘‘atomic weapons employees’’. 

22 (3) Many of the atomic weapons employer fa23 cilities were not properly decontaminated after proc24 essing radioactive materials such as thorium, ura25 nium, and radium and retained significant levels of 
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1 contamination. Workers who were hired and em2 ployed in such atomic weapons employer facilities 

3 after the date that contracts were ended for produc4 tion were potentially exposed to significant amounts 

5 of radiation. Congress was not aware of the presence 

6 of residual radioactive contamination in these facili7 ties when it enacted EEOICPA, thus inadvertently 

8 denying coverage under the law to those who were 

9 unwittingly exposed to radiation left over from nu10 clear weapons activities. 

11 (4) In December 2001, the National Defense 

12 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 

13 107–107) was enacted, which required in section 

14 3151(b) that the National Institute for Occupational 

15 Safety and Health study and issue a final report to 

16 Congress by December 2002 describing which of the 

17 atomic weapons employer facilities had significant 

18 residual radioactive contamination remaining in 

19 them after processing materials for use in atomic 

20 weapons and during what time periods such radio21 active contamination remained. 

22 (5) In October 2003, the Institute issued a re23 port, titled ‘‘Report on Residual Radioactive and Be24 ryllium Contamination in Atomic Weapons Employer 

25 and Beryllium Vendor Facilities’’. The report found 
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1 that, out of 219 atomic weapons employer facili2 ties— 

3 (A) 97 (44 percent) of such facilities have 

4 potential for significant residual radioactive 

5 contamination outside of the periods in which 

6 atomic weapons-related production occurred; 

7 (B) 88 (40 percent) of such facilities have 

8 little potential for significant residual radio9 active contamination outside of the periods in 

10 which atomic weapons-related production oc11 curred; and 

12 (C) 34 (16 percent) of such facilities have 

13 insufficient information to make a determina14 tion. 

15 (6) Congress is now aware that workers were 

16 employed in a substantial number of atomic weapons 

17 employer facilities years after the Manhattan Project 

18 ended. These workers were potentially harmed by 

19 legacy residual radioactive contamination that per20 meated the walls, the floors, and the air of their 

21 worksites well after the Atomic Energy Commission 

22 and the Department of Energy terminated contracts 

23 for production activities. This exposure to residual 

24 radioactive contamination took place without the 

25 knowledge or consent of these workers. 
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1 (7) Congress therefore declares that, based on 

2 the scientific assessment by the Institute, those 

3 workers hired and employed in such facilities during 

4 the period after Cold War production stopped but 

5 during which the Institute found there was signifi6 cant residual radioactive contamination should be 

7 defined as ‘‘atomic weapons employees’’ under 

8 EEOICPA, should be eligible to apply for compensa9 tion under subtitle B of EEOICPA, and should have 

10 their claims evaluated on the same basis as those 

11 atomic weapons employees who were employed dur12 ing the period when processing of radioactive mate13 rials was underway as part of the atomic weapons 

14 program. 

15 SEC. 3. COVERAGE UNDER ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPA16 TIONAL ILLNESS COMPENSATION PROGRAM 

17 OF INDIVIDUALS EMPLOYED AT ATOMIC 

18 WEAPONS EMPLOYER FACILITIES DURING 

19 PERIODS OF RESIDUAL CONTAMINATION. 

20 Paragraph (3) of section 3621 of the Energy Employ21 ees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 

22 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384l) is amended to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘(3) The term ‘atomic weapons employee’ 

24 means any of the following: 
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1 ‘‘(A) An individual employed at an atomic 

2 weapons employer facility during a period when 

3 the employer was processing or producing, for 

4 the use by the United States, material that 

5 emitted radiation and was used in the produc6 tion of an atomic weapon, excluding uranium 

7 mining and milling. 

8 ‘‘(B) An individual employed— 

9 ‘‘(i) at an atomic weapons employer 

10 facility with respect to which the National 

11 Institute for Occupational Safety and 

12 Health, in its report dated October 2003 

13 and titled ‘Report on Residual Radioactive 

14 and Beryllium Contamination at Atomic 

15 Weapons Employer Facilities and Beryl16 lium Vendor Facilities’, or any update to 

17 that report, found that there is a potential 

18 (not including a case in which the Institute 

19 found that there is ‘little’ potential) for 

20 significant residual contamination outside 

21 of the period in which weapons-related pro22 duction occurred; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) during a period, as specified in 

24 such report or any update to such report, 
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1 of significant residual contamination at 

2 that facility.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. UPDATE TO REPORT. 

4 In each of 2005, 2006, and 2007, the Director of the 

5 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

6 shall submit to Congress, not later than December 31 of 

7 that year, an update to the report required by section 

8 3151(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act for 

9 Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107–107; 42 U.S.C. 7384 

10 note). Each such update shall— 

11 (1) for each facility for which such report, or 

12 any update to such report, found that insufficient 

13 information was available to determine whether sig14 nificant residual contamination was present, deter15 mine whether significant residual contamination was 

16 present; 

17 (2) for each facility for which such report, or 

18 any update to such report, found that significant re19 sidual contamination remained present as of the 

20 date of the report, determine the date on which such 

21 contamination ceased to be present; 

22 (3) for each facility for which such report, or 

23 any update to such report, found that significant re24 sidual contamination was present but for which the 

25 Director has been unable to determine the extent to 
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1 which such contamination is attributable to beryl2 lium or atomic weapons-related activities, identify 

3 the specific dates of coverage attributable to such 

4 activities and, in so identifying, presume that such 

5 contamination is attributable to such activities until 

6 there is evidence of decontamination of residual con7 tamination identified with beryllium or atomic weap8 ons-related activities; and 

9 (4) if new information that pertains to the re10 port has been made available to the Director since 

11 that report was submitted, identify and describe 

12 such information. 

13 SEC. 5. PUBLICATION IN FEDERAL REGISTER. 

14 The Director shall ensure that the report referred to 

15 in section 4, and each update required by section 4, are 

16 published in the Federal Register not later than 15 days 

17 after being released.

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