UssLansing.org
Title
USS/USCGC LANSING
Description
On October 5, 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act ("RECA" or "the Act"), 42 U.S.C. § 2210 note, providing for compassionate payments to individuals who contracted certain cancers and other serious diseases as a result of their exposure to radiation released during above-ground nuclear weapons tests or as a result of their exposure to radiation during employment in underground uranium mines. The 1990 Act provided fixed payments in the following amounts: $50,000 to individuals residing or working "downwind" of The Nevada Test Site; $75,000 for workers participating in above-ground nuclear weapons tests; and $100,000 for uranium miners.
Implementing regulations were issued by the Department of Justice and published in the Federal Register on April 10, 1992, establishing procedures to resolve claims in a reliable, objective, and non-adversarial manner, with little administrative cost to the United States or to the person filing the claim. Revisions to the regulations, published in the Federal Register on March 22, 1999, served to greater assist claimants in establishing entitlement to an award.
On July 10, 2000, Pub. L. 106-245, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2000 ("the 2000 Amendments") was passed. Introduced by Senator Hatch on August 5, 1999, the Amendments were one of many bills introduced in the 106th Congress with the intent to amend the existing law. Most significantly, the 2000 Amendments added two new claimant categories (uranium mill workers and ore transporters), provided additional compensable illnesses, lowered the radiation exposure threshold for uranium miners, included above-ground miners within the definition of "uranium miner," modified medical documentation requirements, and removed certain lifestyle restrictions. It also added additional geographic areas to the downwinder claimant category.
