ST. GEORGE — Since 2000, people and families, including those who lived in Southern Utah, who lived downwind of the above-ground nuclear weapons have had a way to be compensated financially if they or a family member was afflicted with certain types of cancer.

But after July 9, that won’t be the case anymore.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, passed by Congress in 2000, expires on July 10. A bill that would extend that compensation another 19 years is in limbo in the U.S. Senate. The act provides up to $50,000 to individuals and families of those who have had radiogenic cancers and were exposed to radiation from such things as the fallout that fell onto Southern Utah from above-ground nuclear tests in Nevada, as well as those who worked at the Nevada Test Site or in uranium mines.

Leukemia is the most common cancer caused by radiation exposure, but radiogenic cancers also include lymphomas other than Hodgkin’s as well as cancers of the pharynx, small intestine, salivary gland, brain, stomach, urinary bladder, colon, thyroid, pancreas, female or male breast, esophagus, bile ducts, liver, gall bladder, lung and ovary cancers according to Intermountain Healthcare, which runs the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program (RESEP) at St. George Regional Hospital.

RESEP has been providing clinics and information sessions for years to help downwinders and others who may qualify for the program. It also provides cancer screenings and physicals and helps with the compensation application process – all free of charge.

Next week, clinic officials will be spreading to the more rural areas of Southern Utah to provide what are likely to be some of the last chances for people who have not been compensated yet to get information on how to be.

Rebecca Barlow, a nurse practitioner who heads the clinic at St. George Regional Hospital, previously told St. George News that there are still many who qualify for compensation from the program that still haven’t applied. “We have people all the time who don’t realize the law is still in effect,” Barlow said. 

According to Intermountain Healthcare, more than 60,000 people in Utah, Nevada and Arizona were exposed to fallout from atomic tests on the Nevada Test Site about 220 miles due west of St. George. About a third of the radiation exposure came from just one test — the “Harry” blast on May 19, 1953, where unusually strong winds spread much of the fallout directly on St. George. 

During the free information sessions from April 28 to April 30, there will be clinic employees and other experts on hand to answer questions about the compensation program and what is required to apply. People can also start the application itself during the sessions.

For more information on the sessions as well as other questions about the education program, call 435-251-4760.

Event details

• What: Radiation Exposure Compensation Act information sessions
• When:
  • Beaver: Thursday, April 28, 3-4 p.m.
  • Parowan: Thursday, April 28, 6-7 p.m.
  • Cedar City: Friday, April 29, 3-4 p.m.
  • Richfield: Saturday, April 30, 10-11 a.m.
• Where:
  • Beaver: Beaver City Office, 30 W. 300 North.
  • Parowan: Parowan Public Library, 16 S. Main
  • Cedar City: Cedar City Public Library, 303 N. 100 East.
  • Richfield: Snow College, Richfield Campus, Administration Room 147 A&D, : 800 W. 200 South 
• Cost: Free

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