TY to @bojacobs for posting this!

Nuclear fallout victims entitled to free advice and cancer screenings but not compensation

St. George clinic prepping “#downwinders” for possible #RECA revival.

By Mark Eddington
Aug. 22, 2024, 8:00 a.m.

St. George • "A federal program to compensate nuclear fallout victims may be expired, but a St. George clinic tasked with helping them and conducting cancer screenings remains open for business.

"The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a program to compensate victims of radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War, expired June 7.

Efforts to revive the program are currently stuck in the U.S. House of Representatives due to concerns by House Speaker Mike Johnson and members of Utah’s congressional delegation over its $50 billion price tag and debate over whether to expand RECA to cover areas previously excluded by the program.

"Despite the political impasse, Intermountain Health’s Radiation Exposure Screening Clinic at St. George Regional Hospital remains open to assist downwinders — the term given to people exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons testing — get answers about how radioactive fallout may have impacted them and their families, and to conduct free cancer screenings.

"'The Department of Justice cannot accept RECA applications at this time due to the expiration of the program,' Becky Barlow, project director at the St. George clinic, said in a news release. 'But anyone who thinks that they would have qualified for the program if it was still active is welcome to call me to discuss what they could be doing while we wait for the bill to start again.'"

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2024/08/22/nuclear-fallout-victims-can-get/

#NoNukes #NoWar #RadiationExposureCompensationAct #NoUraniumMining #NoUraniumEnrichment #RethinkNotRestart

Dayton Daily News investigation found #contamination, sick workers at #PiketonOhio plant

By Lynn Hulsey
May 15, 2019

"A polluted former #UraniumEnrichment plant in #Piketon closed years ago but it's impact continues to resonate through the community, including this week when a #MiddleSchool was closed after traces of radioactive #neptunium were found at an air monitoring station at the school.

"Contamination with radiation and multiple toxic substances at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant led to an ongoing, multibillion dollar environmental cleanup and sickened plant workers who had to fight for compensation as they battled debilitating terminal illnesses related to their years at the plant.

"A massive 2006 investigation by the Dayton Daily News found five plumes of poisoned #groundwater, contamination with radiation, #beryllium, polychlorinated biphenyls (#PCBs) and #asbestos.

"The investigation found lax safety practices, routine mishandling of toxic and #radioactive material and at least 400 accidental releases of #UraniumGas or toxic fluorine. Toxins were dumped into unlined #landfills and ditches and leached into #groundwater and the Little #BeaverCreek, a tributary of the #SciotoRiver.

"The plant was operated by the federal government and contractors from 1954 to 2001 and enriched uranium to high levels for #NuclearWeapons and #NuclearSubmarines and to lower levels for #nuclearpowerplants.

Read more:
https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/state--regional/2006-investigation-found-contamination-sick-workers-piketon-plant/AZkEGlITaQEu97Sb91duGN/

#WaterIsLife #Ohio #NoNukes #NoWar #UraniumEnrichment #UraniumHexafluoride #RECA #PortsmouthGaseousDiffusionPlant #InvestigativeJournalism #RadiationExposureCompensationAct #NoUraniumMining #NoUraniumEnrichment