radiation exposure The Compensation Act has been a lifeline for some people and families exposed to toxins linked to decades-old nuclear weapons tests, but advocates say more people are eligible for compensation.
The law, first enacted in 1990 and set to expire this year, provides for payments to anyone who suffers certain cancers and diseases as a result of the effort to build the first atomic bomb.
“It goes back to the Manhattan Project and all cold war The era when the government’s nuclear program was actually made possible by working people who went into the mines and processed the uranium. They were exposed to this nuclear radiation and they were not compensated,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said.
(From 1945 to 1962, the US conducted about 200 atmospheric tests.)nuclear weapons testing, Thousands of workers were hired to mine uranium throughout the West while others worked at testing sites. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act covered many of these workers but excluded those who worked in laboratories and refineries elsewhere.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act applies to victims in some states, but there is a push to expand it. (Fox News)
“The government never compensated the victims for the risks they faced,” Hawley said.
Hawley is working to increase and expand payments in places like Alaska, Kentucky, Tennessee and his home state of Missouri.
“We did not know the extent of the government’s nuclear processing or radiation tests,” Hawley said. “The government has exposed them. They’ve become sick because of it, and what this law does is it helps them get the medical treatment and other cost assistance that they need, if they make a full recovery.” If not, at least he will be compensated in some way for his sacrifice for this country.”
In St. Louis, the limits of risk manhattan project The chemical has spread far beyond the locations where refinement and testing took place.
“After the uranium processing facility in St. Louis was closed during the Manhattan Project era, the government did not properly or actually dispose of the waste,” Hawley said.
Documents revealed that workers moved the chemicals to three different locations over the years, and some of them leaked into a creek that flows into North County, St. Louis.
A child eating snow near Coldwater Creek in an undated photo. (Dre Mallinckrodt Collection)
“I have lupus, and I also have psoriatic arthritis and some other autoimmune diseases,” said Karen Nickell, founder of Just Moms STL. She grew up in North County and raised her children in the area. He said they have also been suffering from illnesses he says are linked to radioactive waste in the area.
“Lupus is an environmental trigger. They know it’s linked to some radiation,” Nickell said.
Missouri state representative Chantel Nickson-Clark, a Democrat, also grew up in North County. She comes from a family that has survived breast cancer twice history of cancerBut he said he believes environmental exposures may play a role in his illnesses.
Nixon-Clark said, “As the data shows, there is nothing concrete. Coming from a family where cancer ran through the family, we believe (chemical exposure) is a contributing factor. ”
Sen. Hawley urges more compensation for radiation exposure as partial shutdown deadline approaches
Both Nickell and Nixon-Clark lived near Coldwater Creek. Years of testing have shown that radioactive chemicals are present in the water and have spread along the waterway to the bay bottom.
Missouri state representative Chantel Nickson-Clark said she believes chemical exposure may have contributed to her family’s cancer. (Chantel Nickson-Clark)
“This is not a creek. It’s more like a river,” Nickell said.
Health Assessment of 2019 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that exposure to bay may increase the risk of developing certain cancers.
“More testing needs to be done,” Hawley said. “I’ve been saying for years that the Army Corps needs to test throughout the flood zone.”
Before the threat was determined, the bay was often a playground.
“In the 1950s, people moved out and built houses there. It was a nice suburban area,” Hawley said.
Nickell said her parents chose to live in the neighborhood because it was a good place to raise a family.
Nickel recalled, “There were a lot of kids in the neighborhood, and kids spent time from sunup till sundown playing in the park and in the creek.”
A child swings on a swing near Coldwater Creek in an undated photo. (Dre Mallinckrodt Collection)
Decades later, Nickel said he and his family were not the only ones suffering from the diseases.
“People after people have died from rare cancers and whatnot, diseases and autoimmune diseases, and it’s astronomical,” Nickel said.
Nickell and her neighbor, Don Chapman, have worked together to learn more about radioactive waste in the area. She founded her own organization, Just Moms STL, to inform others about toxic sites around their homes.
On the right, Karen Nickell has pushed for greater awareness of toxic sites near some homes. (Don Chapman)
“Unlike Karen, I didn’t grow up with it,” Chapman said. “It was shocking to see how many people were sick, and then, I was able to look back in my community where I grew up, there was nothing like that.”
Chapman and Nickel both purchased homes near one of the sites where the radioactive chemicals would eventually be disposed of. Neither woman said they knew the trash was there until underground fires began burning near the site.
“The longer this fire burns, the more unstable the ground where the fire occurs becomes, which gives it the ability to move, and so, we’re racing against a clock,” Chapman said. “
He further said that he First came to know about the fire At the West Lake Landfill in 2013.
“I was smelling something for a while,” she said, “like when you cut an onion. That’s what our eyes were doing. It felt like this, this very intense burning sensation. It was like, ‘Oh.’ ‘Oh God, what’s happening to me?’
Chapman said he called the Department of Natural Resources.
“They started talking about the Manhattan Project and the radioactive waste there, and they were worried there was going to be a fire,” Chapman said.
Children playing near Coldwater Creek in an undated photo. (Dre Mallinckrodt Collection)
This fire has been burning for more than a decade. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that crews installed an isolation barrier to keep the waste separate from the fire.
“The system that they have installed is able to capture some of the… smoke and stuff and run the isolation barriers through a treatment system. So, there is no human risk at this time,” Bob Jurgens, EPA Region 7 Superfund and Director of the Emergency Management Division said.
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Still, many residents and lawmakers have questioned why the cleanup of sites like the West Lake Landfill and Coldwater Creek has taken so long. They also continue to demand compensation for people who have become ill after being near these sites.
“The government has done all this. It has imposed these hardships on these working people,” Hawley said. “These working people, they’re the heroes of this story.”
