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Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson announced today that the Clinton Administration will propose legislation to establish a pilot program for compensating current and former Department of Energy (DOE) contract workers at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky for cancers caused by job exposure to radioactive contaminants. Secretary Richardson also announced a $21.8 million supplemental budget amendment to pay for expanded worker medical monitoring, radiation exposure assessments and accelerated cleanup at the gaseous diffusion plants in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

"The compensation proposal and the budget amendment follow through on my August commitment to address concerns about environment, safety and health issues at the gaseous diffusion plants," said Secretary Richardson. "The budget amendment provides a realistic strategy to immediately improve health and safety conditions at the plants and I trust that Congress will act favorably on the measure."

Secretary Richardson is visiting Paducah tonight and Friday, September 17. He will meet with residents, civic leaders, employees, labor representatives and former workers to provide an update on the department’s work to date and to hear from the Paducah community firsthand.

Under the proposed pilot compensation program, DOE contractor workers at the Paducah site with cancer caused by their work-related exposure to materials contaminated by plutonium could receive lost wages and health benefits. Details of the program will be provided in the proposed legislation. In addition to this very targeted pilot health program, the Energy Department is also conducting an interagency investigation into whether exposures may have caused disease among workers at other DOE sites like Portsmouth and Oak Ridge. The pilot program will help evaluate the need for similar programs at these other sites.

On July 15, Secretary Richardson announced a similar proposal to help current and former Department of Energy contract workers who are ill because of exposure to beryllium at DOE nuclear facilities. The beryllium proposal and today’s announced pilot project are modeled after the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act program and will provide similar benefits. The health initiative was designed to fill in gaps in the current system for DOE contract workers. Unlike federal employees who are covered by a federal workers’ compensation system, employees of DOE contractors have historically been covered by the various state workers’ compensation programs, where it is more difficult to prove occupational illness.

The legislative proposals for beryllium and the pilot project for Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant workers are expected to be submitted to the Congress in the next few weeks. An interagency review focusing on whether there are other illnesses that warrant inclusion in this program is ongoing. Recommendations are expected in March 2000.

Contractor workers at the Paducah uranium enrichment facility were potentially exposed to plutonium and other radioactive contaminants as a result of the Atomic Energy Commission’s reuse of uranium previously used in the production of plutonium. The use of these recycled reactor tailings began in the 1950s and, although their use was discontinued in the 1970s, plutonium and other radioactive residues are still present in small quantities at the facility. However, concerns have been expressed that, until 1990, workers may not have been adequately informed about the contamination or trained in work practices designed to protect them from the possible health impacts of such potential exposures.

Secretary Richardson also announced details about a Fiscal Year 2000 budget amendment to ensure that all important health and safety issues at the gaseous diffusion plants are addressed. The funds will accelerate health, safety and cleanup activities at the plants. Secretary Richardson said he expects the Office of Management and Budget to transmit the amendment to Congress shortly. The proposed $21.8 million amendment will support the following activities at Paducah, Kentucky; the Portsmouth plant in Piketon, Ohio; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee:

• $7 million for environment, safety and health programs to:

• provide technical expertise on radiological issues, including: identifying and analyzing worker health and safety risks and exposures at the plants; assessing the plants’ radiation and contamination control programs and waste practices; and reviewing the historical generation and flow of recycled uranium throughout the DOE complex; and
• substantially increase medical monitoring to detect potential health hazards to former and current workers at the plants. Medical monitoring is currently provided for 1,200 former workers per year at the gaseous diffusion plants, including Paducah. The program will now be expanded to include 600 additional former workers as well as approximately 900 current workers at each site. The program will provide an objective, independent and expert evaluation of the workers’ health status.

• $10.7 million to accelerate environmental cleanup activities at Paducah and Portsmouth, especially where there is potential radioactive contamination of groundwater, surface water, on-site burial grounds and surface soil, as well as decontamination and decommissioning of facilities to protect on-site workers. These funds would be added to the Environmental Management program’s uranium enrichment decontamination and decommissioning activities.
• $4.1 million for nuclear energy programs to accelerate clean-up of inactive DOE facilities at Paducah and Portsmouth; reduce or eliminate chemical hazards, radiologically contaminated material and exposure to workers; and support test-sampling for potential impurities, and repackaging or disposal, as appropriate, of old depleted uranium hexafluoride containers stored at the sites.

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