ST. GEORGE — Earlier in the month, the Oscars celebrated the film “Oppenheimer” as its best picture as a testament to the first above-ground test of a nuclear weapon. But many “downwinders” in Southern Utah bear the scars of the nuclear tests of the atomic age whose radiation and fallout sailed from the Nevada Test Site, resulting in cancers and other illnesses.
Even though the government has had a program for more than 33 years providing monetary compensation for locals who lived in the area in the 1950s and ’60s and suffered medical complications from the fallout, some have either not heard of the program and/or not applied for it.
People fitting either category will get a chance to learn about the program and how they can apply for it during free information sessions next week.
They will also learn about a possible extension and expansion of the act currently before Congress that would include more Southern Utah individuals – as well as people in northern Utah – who may have not qualified under the act.
St. George Regional Hospital’s Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program will be holding a free informational seminar on the afternoon of March 27 in Veyo and March 28 in Enterprise.
“Local residents and their families are encouraged to come have their questions answered about the program and its requirements,” according to a statement issued by Intermountain Healthcare, the parent company of the hospital. “Information will be given about the RECA compensation and its scheduled expiration. Applications and information will be available to get anyone who qualifies started on the compensation process.”
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was passed by Congress in 1990 and was extended in June 2022 for two more years. The act provides up to $50,000 to individuals and families of those who have had certain cancers and were exposed to radiation from the fallout that sailed into Southern Utah from above-ground nuclear tests in Nevada, as well as those who worked at the Nevada Test Site or in uranium mines.
A bill to extend the act for another six years and expand it was passed by the Senate in a 69-30 vote on March 7. The extension bill is sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, who has added additional language that among other things:
- Changes the qualification from those – alive or deceased – who lived in Southern Utah for at least one year from Jan. 21, 1951, to Oct. 31, 1958, or for all of July 1962 to anyone who lived in Utah for a year from Sept. 24, 1944, to Nov. 6, 1962.
- Increases the compensation from $50,000 to $100,000 and allows those who have already received compensation to apply for the additional amount.
- Expand compensation to those who worked in uranium mines from 1942 until the end of 1990, as opposed to 1971.
The extension and changes were originally included as an amendment to the overall defense spending bill but were removed before the bill was passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden.
“It is more than an issue. It is a cause. It is a cause of justice,” Hawley said on the Senate floor. “It is a cause of doing right by other fellow Americans. We have not done right by those good people. We have turned our back on them because so many of them were poisoned by their own government, by nuclear waste and radiation, by nuclear tests that were done without their knowledge, by the nuclear material and the mines that they weren’t told about.”
Hawley didn’t have the backing of Utah’s senators.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who authored the 2022 bill that extended the program for two years, was one of the 30 votes against the new extension on March 7, as was fellow Utah U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney. Commenting to KSL, both senators criticized the reauthorization for its expansion to cover more people and an additional $50 billion price tag.
The bill is now in the U.S. House of Representatives where it awaits a floor vote. The chances of passage are uncertain. The bill would have to be passed and then signed by the president before June or it will expire.
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.
According to the Atomic Heritage Foundation, 35% of all of the fallout radiation in Southern Utah came from one test – the “Harry” blast on May 19, 1953. Unusually strong eastward winds carried much of the fallout directly onto St. George, where it was said Geiger counters recorded readings of 300-350 milliroentgens, which is 150 times that of a medical X-ray. A reading of 1,000 milliroentgens is fatal to a human.
The clinic at St. George Regional Hospital provides cancer screenings and physicals and helps with the application process – all free of charge.
Qualifying cancers include:
- Leukemia
- Multiple Myeloma
- Lymphomas, other than Hodgkin
- Primary 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 ovaries
Those unable to attend the free information sessions can call the clinic at 435-251-4760.
Event details
What: Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program assistance meetings
When and where:
- Veyo: Veyo Water Department Building, 176 S. Spanish Trail Dr., Wednesday, March 27, 5-6 p.m.
- Enterprise: Enterprise City Office, 375 S. 200 East, Thursday, March 28, 5-6 p.m.
Cost: Free
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