[NukeNet] Board Votes to Aid Sick Livermore Lab Workers

[Marylia Kelley]

The Board just voted. Here is the outcome. Hooray! --Marylia

For immediate release: Tuesday, January 8, 2008

For further information contact:
Robert Schwartz, Staff Attorney, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148
Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148

COMMUNITY GROUP HAILS BOARD DECISION TO APPROVE LIVERMORE LAB SICK WORKER
PETITION

LIVERMORE, CA - Today, the national Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker
Health voted unanimously to recommend adding a class of sick workers from
the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to the Special Exposure Cohort
(SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program
Act (EEOICPA).

"The Board's recommendation is an important step towards sick workers from
Livermore Lab receiving the compensation they so justly deserve," commented
Robert Schwartz, Tri-Valley CAREs' Staff Attorney.  "Sick workers or their
survivors, many of whom have been waiting for over 6 years, will finally be
compensated for their illnesses."

Schwartz continued: "Next, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and
Congress must support the petition, which they are expected to do. I am
hopeful that they will act quickly, as 'justice delayed is justice denied,'
as Dr. King pointed out." Schwartz facilitates a support group for ill
Livermore Lab and Sandia Lab workers.

If the SEC is approved, it will allow sick workers who meet certain
employment qualifications to receive compensation for specified cancers
often associated with radiation exposure without having to go through the
bureaucratic snarl of individual dose reconstruction, which is impossible
to do correctly in the absence of records.

Raili Glenn, a Dublin resident, spoke to the Board in support of the
petition.  Ms. Glenn's husband, who died of radiation-linked illness, was
employed at Livermore Lab and the Nevada Test Site.  Her moving testimony
highlighted the many sacrifices made by nuclear workers and their families.

The Board's discussion concerning the Livermore Lab SEC petition
highlighted a couple of important but still unresolved issues.  One Board
member questioned the December 31, 1973 cut-off date for the proposed
class, as there is little evidence that sufficient records are available to
perform accurate dose reconstructions after that date.

In addition, there was some confusion regarding the precise class
definition and whether LLNL administrative workers should be included.  In
the end, the Board agreed to have its Work Group on SEC Issues monitor the
situation to ensure that workers who may have been exposed were not being
excluded from the class.

"Tri-Valley CAREs will work to ensure that the SEC is passed in a timely
manner," said Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs' Executive Director. "We
will also seek to help Livermore Lab workers who were exposed after 1973
obtain compensation," she vowed. "This is a huge step forward, but is not
the end of the road."

BACKGROUND: The SEC is a designation given to a class of workers for whom
sufficiently accurate dose reconstructions cannot be performed.  Without
such a designation, sick workers must have their doses reconstructed by the
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in a lengthy
and confusing process that is often incomplete when a sick worker passes
away.  Once given the SEC designation, sick workers instead must
demonstrate that they fall within the SEC class definition and have one of
the specified 22 cancers outlined in the EEOICPA.

The proposed class for the Livermore Lab SEC petition includes all
employees of the Department of Energy (DOE), its predecessor agencies, and
DOE contractors or subcontractors who were monitored, or should have been
monitored, for internal exposure to mixed fission and/or activation product
radionuclides while working at the Lab.  Sick workers must demonstrate that
they worked at Livermore Lab for a number of work days aggregating at least
250 work days from January 1, 1950 through December 31, 1973, or in
combination with work days under another class of the SEC.  Workers whose
jobs kept them in administrative facilities-e.g., library, cafeteria,
offices-outside of radiological areas will not be included in the class.

The Board's recommendation to add the class of workers from Livermore Lab
to the SEC will go to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Services, who will then make a final decision.  Once the Secretary makes
that decision, he will send his decision to Congress, which has 30 days to
reverse or expedite the Secretary's decision.  To date, Congress has never
acted to oppose an SEC petition, and after 30 days the Secretary's decision
becomes final.

If the class of workers from Livermore Lab is added to the SEC, then all
claims at NIOSH will be sent back to the Department of Labor (DOL).  DOL
will then be responsible for determining eligibility for compensation under
the new class.  DOL will also review all claims currently in its possession
for individuals from Lawrence Livermore.

The EEOICPA was enacted by Congress in 2000.  The Act provides for
qualified claimants or their surviving spouses to receive a maximum of
$250,000 in compensation.  If living, related medical treatment for the
sick worker is included.  If there is no surviving spouse, a child may file
on behalf of a deceased parent.

LOCAL ACTION: Tri-Valley CAREs will be holding its next Sick Worker Support
Group meeting at the Livermore Public Library on Wednesday, January 9th.
The meeting will be held in Community Room A from 10am to noon.  The
Livermore Lab SEC petition will be discussed in detail at the meeting, as
well as resources to help sick workers receive compensation.

-- 30 --

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia at trivalleycares.org or marylia at earthlink.net