The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was enacted in 1990 and provides one-time cash benefits to certain persons who participated in atomic weapons testing or lived near the Nevada Test Site during periods of atmospheric (above-ground) atomic weapons testing. Benefits under RECA are also available to certain uranium miners, mill workers, and ore transporters who worked in the uranium industry between 1942 and 1971, when the federal government stopped its procurement of radiation for the atomic weapons program. All RECA claimants must have contracted one of the medical conditions specified in the statute after possible exposure to ionizing radiation from the detonation of an atomic weapon or after working in the uranium industry. The RECA program is administered by the Civil Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ). To date, DOJ has approved more than 30,000 RECA claims for nearly $2 billion in benefits. The majority of RECA claims are related to atomic weapons testing rather than the uranium industry. Complete RECA program data are provided in Table A-1 in the Appendix . Benefits under RECA are paid out of general revenue and are considered mandatory spending. Pursuant to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2000, P.L. 106-245 , all RECA benefit applications must be filed before July 10, 2022, at which point the program will sunset. On July 16, 1945, the United States detonated the first atomic bomb at the Trinity Test Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. This atomic weapons test, which was followed by the only two offensive uses of atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, ushered in an era of extensive development and testing of atomic weapons that would last until 1992. During this period, the United States, under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and later Department of Energy (DOE), conducted 1,054 atomic weapons tests. The majority (928) of these tests were conducted at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), a 1,375 square-mile federal reservation located approximately 65 miles north of Las Vegas in Nye County, Nevada. Of the 928 tests conducted at NTS, 828 were underground tests and 100 were atmospheric tests in which the atomic weapons exploded at or above ground level resulting in radioactive material being released into the atmosphere. These 100 atmospheric tests and the initial Trinity test were the only atmospheric atomic weapons tests conducted in the continental United States and Alaska. Table 1 provides a summary of U.S. atomic weapons tests by location. Atmospheric atomic weapons tests at NTS were conducted between January 27, 1951, and October 30, 1958, and again between July 7, 1962, and July 17, 1962. The largest atmospheric test at NTS in terms of energy yield was the Hood Test conducted on July 5, 1957, which had an energy yield equivalent to 74,000 tons (74 kilotons or kt) of trinitrotoluene (TNT). The following benefits are available under the RECA program: $75,000— Onsite participants (persons who were present at a test site during an atmospheric atomic weapons test); $50,000— Downwinders (persons who were present in certain areas north and west of NTS during periods of atmospheric atomic weapons testing); and $100,000— Uranium Workers (uranium miners, uranium millers, and uranium ore transporters). All benefits are one-time lump sum payments and are not adjusted to reflect changes in wages or the cost of living. Benefits are not subject to the federal income tax but are reduced by any payments received from any lawsuit, workers' compensation system, or the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for any illnesses or injuries due to exposure to radiation from atomic weapons testing or work in the uranium industry covered by RECA. No medical or other benefits are provided by the RECA program. However, uranium workers eligible for RECA are automatically eligible for an additional $50,000 in compensation and medical benefits that pay for all medical costs associated with their covered illnesses under Part B of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). Each onsite participant, downwinder, or uranium worker who qualifies for RECA is entitled to one benefit payment on his or her behalf. If the claimant is living, the benefit is paid to him or her directly. If claimant is deceased, then the benefit is paid to the following survivors according to order of precedence: 1. spouse, provided the spouse was married to the claimant for at least one year before the claimant's death; 2. children, in equal shares; 3. parents, in equal shares; 4. grandchildren, in equal shares; and 5. grandparents, in equal shares. Only the survivors listed above are eligible for RECA benefits, and if there are no such survivors to a claimant, no benefit is paid on that claim. To be eligible for RECA benefits, an onsite participant must meet exposure and disease requirements. A person may be eligible for RECA benefits if he or she was present onsite and participated in an atmospheric atomic weapons test conducted by the United States and meets the specific geographic and participation requirements provided in the RECA regulations. A person must have been within or above one of the following geographic areas during a period of atmospheric atomic weapons testing, including for up to six months after the period of testing ended: NTS; the Pacific Test Sites (Bikini Atoll, Enewetak Atoll, Johnston Island, Christmas Island, the test site for the shot during Operation Wigwam, the test site for Shot Yucca during Operation Hardtack I, and the test sites for Shot Frigate Bird and Shot Swordfish during Operation Dominic I) and the official zone around each site from which non-test affiliated ships were excluded for security and safety purposes; Trinity Test Site; the South Atlantic Test Site for Operation Argus and the official zone around the site from which non-test affiliated ships were excluded for security and safety purposes; any designated location within a naval shipyard, air force base, or other official government installation where ships, aircraft, or other equipment used in an atmospheric nuclear detonation were decontaminated; or any designated location used for the purpose of monitoring fallout from an atmospheric nuclear test conducted at NTS. A person must have held one of the following occupations and performed one of the following activities while onsite during a period of atmospheric atomic weapons testing, including for up to six months after the period of testing ended: Required O ccupations member of the Armed Forces; civilian employee or contract employee of the Manhattan Engineer District, the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, the Defense Atomic Support Agency, the Defense Nuclear Agency, or the Department of Defense or its components or agencies or predecessor components or agencies; employee or contract employee of the AEC, the Energy Research and Development Administration, or the Department of Energy; member of the Federal Civil Defense Administration or the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization; or member of the U.S. Public Health Service; and Required A ctivities performed duties within the identified operational area around each atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device; participated in the decontamination of any ships, planes, or equipment used during the atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device; performed duties as a cloud tracker or cloud sampler; served as a member of the garrison or maintenance forces on the atoll of Enewetak between June 21, 1951, and July 1, 1952; between August 7, 1956, and August 7, 1957; or between November 1, 1958, and April 30, 1959; or performed duties as a me mber of a mobile radiological safety team monitoring the pattern of fallout from an atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device. An onsite participant must have contracted one of the types of cancers listed in Table 2 after exposure to ionizing radiation from his or her participation in an atmospheric atomic weapons test. To be eligible for RECA benefits as a downwinder, a person must meet specified exposure and disease requirements based on his or her physical presence near NTS, rather than through his or her participation in an atomic weapons test. A downwinder must have been physically present for a period of at least 24 consecutive months between January 21, 1951, and October 31, 1958; or for the entire period between June 30, 1962, and July 31, 1962, in one of the counties or geographic areas listed in Table 3 and provided in the map in the Appendix . A downwinder must have contracted one of the types of cancers listed in Table 2 after exposure to ionizing radiation from an atmospheric atomic weapons test at NTS. To qualify for RECA benefits, a uranium miner must meet specific exposure and disease requirements. A uranium miner must have worked in an above-ground or underground uranium mine for at least one year during the period between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1971, or must have been exposed to at least 40 working-level months (WLM) of radiation during this period, in one of the states listed in Table 4 . A WLM is defined in the RECA statute as one working level of radiation exposure every work day for a month, or an equivalent exposure over a greater or lesser period of time. One working level of radiation exposure is defined as the concentration of decay products of radon that will release 130,000 megaelectron volts (MeV) of alpha energy per liter of air. A uranium miner must have developed lung cancer or one of the following non-malignant respiratory diseases after exposure to radiation: fibrosis of the lung; pulmonary fibrosis; corpulmonale related to fibrosis of the lung; silicosis; or pneumoconiosis. Uranium millers and ore transporters may qualify for RECA benefits if they meet specific exposure and disease requirements.