Center to Aid Ill Nuke Workers
After years of being turned away, sick workers from the Nevada Test Site now have a place to go to seek assistance and file claims for government compensation.
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and officials from the Labor and Energy departments were on hand Thursday for the opening of one of 10 resource centers that will operate nationally. They were joined by about a dozen former workers, including one who had a lung transplant and others with oxygen tanks, who trace their illnesses to time spent helping the nation develop and test nuclear weapons.
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao opened the first of the centers in Paducah, Ky., on Monday. Others are scheduled to open in Denver; Richland, Wash.; Espanola, N.M.; Idaho Falls, Idaho; North Augusta, S.C.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Anchorage; and Portsmouth, Ohio.
The program offers lifetime medical care and $150,000 to ailing workers who were employed at nuclear test sites.
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