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US Senate votes to expand radiation-exposure compensation, from Guam to original A-bomb test site

2023-07-31 00:00:00.0 独立报-美国政治原网页

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The U.S. Senate has endorsed a major expansion of a compensation program for people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing and the mining of uranium during the Cold War, with a vote Thursday on a massive defense spending bill.

Advancing on a 86-11 Senate vote, the provisions would extend health care coverage and compensation to so-called downwinders exposed to radiation during weapons testing to several new regions stretching from Guam to the New Mexico site where the world’s first atomic bomb was tested in 1945.

The Senate-backed plan also would extend compensation to more former uranium industry workers. The proposed changes to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act are not yet included in a House-approved defense bill, amid negotiations toward final legislation.

The hit summer film “Oppenheimer” about the top-secret Manhattan Project and the dawn of the nuclear age during World War II has brought new attention to a decades-long efforts to extend compensation for families who were exposed to fallout and still grapple with related illness.

"We're elated with the vote today. We're extremely hopeful," said Mary Martinez White, who recounted that her parents and several siblings were ravaged by cancer after the family's exposure to nuclear fallout at a farm in Carrizozo, New Mexico, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) for the Trinity Site test.

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She blames her family's suffering on decisions at the outset of the Cold War — and applauded efforts to make amends through federal compensation by lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri.

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