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WASHINGTON - For five decades, the U.S. government persistently denied that workers in its nuclear facilities were putting their health and even their lives in peril as they helped develop the arsenal that protected the nation during the Cold War.
Yesterday, the Clinton administration conceded that workers exposed to beryllium — a metal used in producing nuclear weapons — deserve compensation for the debilitating and potentially deadly lung disease that hundreds of them have developed.
President Clinton asked Congress to pass legislation providing benefits to cover medical costs and lost wages to the workers or their survivors.
“Many of the men and women who helped us win the Cold War worked in hazardous conditions and were exposed to extremely hazardous substances,” Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said. “It's time to stop spending money litigating against these workers and focus our efforts on getting them the help they need.”
There is bipartisan support for the legislation, which is expected to cost $13 million per year over the next 10 years, and it could pass as early as this year.
The Energy Department and other sources estimate that as many as 26,000 workers may have been exposed to beryllium at department sites over 50 years. There are believed to be 500 to 1,000 cases of the disease, officials said.
The workers, who were employed by companies the government contracted with to run the facilities or for government vendors, are not eligible for federal benefits under the federal workers' compensation program. Many fail to qualify for state workers' compensation benefits because chronic beryllium disease often develops 10 to 15 years after exposure, long after the deadline for filing claims. Moreover, when workers have tried to press the government for compensation in court, the government has routinely fought ferociously against them and won.
The administration had considered approving compensation for workers who suffer from radiation-induced cancer and the lung disease asbestosis and silicosis as part of the current proposal, but instead decided to delay its determination on those diseases until March.
Although the workers who suffer from beryllium disease and their advocates appreciate the reversal in the government's approach toward their plight, they are dismayed that the turnabout took so long.
When Glenn Bell, who suffers from the extreme asthma like symptoms caused by beryllium sickness, started working at the Oak Ridge nuclear weapons site in Tennessee in 1968, he felt he was doing his patriotic duty and that his government would protect him from the dangers posed by the hazardous materials in the facility.
"I do feel anger. I feel more anger because there has been so much stalling up until today," Bell said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report