A non-profit organization that advocates for atomic veterans is calling for the reauthorization of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
The legislation, which sunsetted on June 7, provided a one-time payment of $75,000 to atomic veterans - those who took part in nuclear tests and cleanup operations during World War II and following the war in the Pacific, Nevada, New Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
Air Force veteran Keith Kiefer, national commander of the National Association of Atomic Veterans, took part in cleanup operations in the 1970s at the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
“Where is the respect for the atomic veterans whose health was sacrificed in the pursuit of our country’s nuclear arsenal?” Kiefer asked. “Atomic veterans paid an immense cost in the form of cancer, chronic illness and debilitating disease due to their exposure to radiation. Our country owes them an immense debt.”
Passed in 1990 to provide compensation to those sickened by nuclear tests and administered through the Department of Justice, RECA additionally includes benefits for “onsite participants” at U.S. nuclear testing sites, some populations who lived downwind of test sites, and select uranium workers.
Kiefer said as a result of their service, atomic veterans face a whole host of health issues ranging from cancer, thyroid, reproductive and autoimmune diseases.
“It’s got a lot of parallels to Agent Orange, in that the individuals were being exposed to or voluntold to be involved with these tests without full knowledge and consent of what they were doing,” he said.
He also likened the effects of radiation exposure to a triple whammy. He said the effects of radiation can take decades to appear, leaving aging veterans too sick to work, as their medical expenses are rising.
Kiefer said the health consequences of being exposed to radiation are not limited to the veterans themselves.
“We’re seeing the genetic effects of radiation exposure is being passed on to the children, very similar to Agent Orange,” he said. “Agent Orange also had the component to it.”
Kiefer added that until 1996 atomic veterans were under an oath of secrecy that prevented them from discussing their experiences and exposure.
“We feel like individuals today do not know that oath of secrecy has been lifted,” he said. “They are afraid of discussing their experiences. Many of them died and went to their grave without being able to tell their spouses and children.”
Over the past year, the Senate has passed numerous bipartisan bills to reauthorize and expand the RECA program, but the House of Representatives has declined to take up the legislation. Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, has said he will hold up additional legislation to get the reauthorization passed in the Senate again.
According to Kiefer, as of May 1, $2.6 billion has been provided to over 41,000 claimants through the RECA program. He compared that to the nearly $50 billion per year the country will spend to maintain its nuclear forces over the next decade.
“I consider RECA part of the cost of national defense,” he said.
Kiefer issued a call of action to the public to reach out to their elected representatives to urge them to pass the legislation.
“This is the right thing, the moral thing to do, to give them token compensation for the loss and suffering they experienced as part of national defense.”
National Atomic Veterans Day is July 16.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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