Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Long title	An Act to provide jurisdiction and procedures for claims for compassionate payments for injuries due to exposure to radiation from nuclear testing.
Acronyms (colloquial)	RECA
Nicknames	Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990
Enacted by	the 101st United States Congress
Effective	October 15, 1990
Citations
Public law	101-426
Statutes at Large	104 Stat. 920
Codification
Titles amended	42 U.S.C.: Public Health and Social Welfare
U.S.C. sections amended	42 U.S.C. ch. 23 § 2210 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 2372 by Wayne Owens (D–UT) on May 16, 1989 Committee consideration by House Judiciary Passed the House on June 5, 1990 (agreed voice vote) Passed the Senate on August 1, 1990 (passed voice vote) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on September 27, 1990 (agreed voice vote) Signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on October 15, 1990

The United States Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) is a federal statute providing for the monetary compensation of people, including atomic veterans, who contracted cancer and a number of other specified diseases as a direct result of their exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing undertaken by the United States during the Cold War, or their exposure to radon gas and other radioactive isotopes while undertaking uranium mining, milling or the transportation of ore.

The Act provides the following remunerations:

In all cases there are additional requirements which must be satisfied (proof of exposure, establishment of duration of employment, establishment of certain medical conditions, etc.).

Attempts to enact the legislation can be traced back to the late 1970s. In its fifth draft, a Bill entitled Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1979 was sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. The Bill intended to make compensation available to persons exposed to fallout from nuclear weapons testing and for living uranium miners (or their survivors) who had worked in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona between 1 January 1947 and 31 December 1961.

The Bill proposed to pay compensation to persons who lived within prescribed areas for at least a year, to persons who "died from, has or has had, leukaemia, thyroid cancer, bone cancer or any other cancer identified by an advisory board on the health effects of radiation and uranium exposure".

Fallout areas listed by the bill included counties in Utah and Nevada.

Utah counties included Millard, Sevier, Beaver, Iron, Washington, Kane, Garfiend, Piute, Wayne, San Juan, Grand, Carbon, Emery, Duchesne, Uintah, San Pete and Juab. Nevada's "affected areas" were listed as the counties of White Pine, Nye, Lander, Lincoln and Eureka. The Bill as drafted, would have also compensated ranchers whose sheep died following nuclear weapons tests "Harry" (13 May 1959) and "Nancy" (24 May 1953).

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