Panel Recommends Auto Payments For ill Hanford Workers
An advisory panel is recommending automatic compensation for some former workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation. Under the recommendation made Tuesday, compensation would be automatic to people with many forms of cancer. To be eligible, they would have to have worked in the 300 Area from September 1946 through 1961 and in the 200 Area from 1949 through 1968. Survivors of some workers who have died might also be eligible for the payments, $150,000 plus reimbursement for medical care. If Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt accepts the recommendation from the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, it takes effect unless Congress objects within 30 days.