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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RADIATION COMPENSATION PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, D.C. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Program has approved a record number of claims for fiscal year 2001, with over $111 million being distributed for downwinder, onsite participant, uranium miller, uranium miner and ore transporter claims, the Justice Department announced today. This amount represents more approvals adjudicated by the Justice Department-administered program during the past 12 months, than in the previous five years combined.

The RECA Program provides payments to eligible Americans injured during the Cold War as a result of their participation in the uranium mining industry and from nuclear weapons testing. Since the program began, the Justice Department has approved 5,128 claims worth more than $359 million.

Individuals residing in all 50 states have applied for compensation with residents in Utah being approved for over $109 million. More than $70 million has gone to individuals in Colorado; $50 million in Arizona; and over $49 million approved for payment to individuals in New Mexico.

Congress amended RECA in July of 2000, greatly expanding its scope and increasing the number of those who would be eligible to receive compensation. As a result, the Department's program received more than 4,000 new claims, all of which had been filed since October 2000. In July 2001, the President signed into law legislation making funding immediately available to pay claims approved by the program. This temporarily solved the funding shortfall which had existed prior to this supplemental appropriation. With that supplemental funding, over 2,000 claims have been approved worth a total of $102,335,000.

The Justice Department continues to adjudicate claims as expeditiously as possible, and is working closely with Congress and the Administration to secure a long term solution of the funding problem.

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