Senate Approves Funds for Radiation Victims
The Senate approved a bill that would set aside $655 million to pay thousands sickened by their exposure to radiation while working on Cold War atomic weapons programs.
The bill makes $172 million available for payments under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to former uranium miners and “down-winders,” people unknowingly exposed to fallout from above-ground atomic tests.
The compensation act was passed in 1990 to make lump payments to those who contracted diseases, mostly cancer and respiratory illnesses, from radiation between 1945 and 1971.
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