DENVER—Some people who worked at the now-closed Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant may soon have a second chance to get more federal aid for work-related cancers.
The U.S. Labor Department next week will reopen the cases of 427 workers who were denied aid previously. Department officials say government calculations may have wrongly suggested the radiation they were exposed to wasn’t high enough to cause their cancers.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the outcome of the reviews would affect thousands of others who also have asked to get federal help for health problems they blame on their work.
Rocky Flats, about 15 miles northwest of Denver, made plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads. It operated from 1951 until it was shut down in 1991 after a troubled history that included several fires.
Former workers at Rocky Flats and other nuclear weapons plants have said they developed cancer and other diseases because of their jobs. Seven years ago, Congress created a program that made them eligible for special health benefits if they could prove that exposure to radiation likely caused their ailments.
If the government agrees that the records are insufficient to prove a link, they can still get help for cancers that have a known link to radiation.
In June, a federal panel that reviews workers’ cases voted to recommend benefits for an estimated 4,000 former Flats workers. But Jennifer Thompson, who worked at the plant and now advocates for the workers, said that left about 15,000 ineligible.
Earlier this month, more than 800 people from another group of former Flats workers were added to the program after it was determined that they were mistakenly excluded.
Members of Colorado’s congressional delegation are pressuring the Labor Department to add more, saying the 800 are “only a small portion of Rocky Flats workers who deserve to be covered.”
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Information from: Rocky Mountain News,
