Findings; sense of Congress

Since World War II, Federal nuclear activities have been explicitly recognized under Federal law as activities that are ultra-hazardous. Nuclear weapons production and testing have involved unique dangers, including potential catastrophic nuclear accidents that private insurance carriers have not covered and recurring exposures to radioactive substances and beryllium that, even in small amounts, can cause medical harm. Since the inception of the nuclear weapons program and for several decades afterwards, a large number of nuclear weapons workers at sites of the Department of Energy and at sites of vendors who supplied the Cold War effort were put at risk without their knowledge and consent for reasons that, documents reveal, were driven by fears of adverse publicity, liability, and employee demands for hazardous duty pay. Many previously secret records have documented unmonitored exposures to radiation and beryllium and continuing problems at these sites across the Nation, at which the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies have been, since World War II, self-regulating with respect to nuclear safety and occupational safety and health. No other hazardous Federal activity has been permitted to be carried out under such sweeping powers of self-regulation. The policy of the Department of Energy has been to litigate occupational illness claims, which has deterred workers from filing workers’ compensation claims and has imposed major financial burdens for such employees who have sought compensation. Contractors of the Department have been held harmless and the employees have been denied workers’ compensation coverage for occupational disease. Over the past 20 years, more than two dozen scientific findings have emerged that indicate that certain of such employees are experiencing increased risks of dying from cancer and non-malignant diseases. Several of these studies have also established a correlation between excess diseases and exposure to radiation and beryllium. While linking exposure to occupational hazards with the development of occupational disease is sometimes difficult, scientific evidence supports the conclusion that occupational exposure to dust particles or vapor of beryllium can cause beryllium sensitivity and chronic beryllium disease. Furthermore, studies indicate than 98 percent of radiation-induced cancers within the nuclear weapons complex have occurred at dose levels below existing maximum safe thresholds. Existing information indicates that State workers’ compensation programs do not provide a uniform means of ensuring adequate compensation for the types of occupational illnesses and diseases that relate to the employees at those sites. To ensure fairness and equity, the civilian men and women who, over the past 50 years, have performed duties uniquely related to the nuclear weapons production and testing programs of the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies should have efficient, uniform, and adequate compensation for beryllium-related health conditions and radiation-related health conditions. On April 12, 2000, the Secretary of Energy announced that the Administration intended to seek compensation for individuals with a broad range of work-related illnesses throughout the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex. However, as of October 2, 2000, the Administration has failed to provide Congress with the necessary legislative and budget proposals to enact the promised compensation program. a program should be established to provide compensation to covered employees; a fund for payment of such compensation should be established on the books of the Treasury; the identification of employees of the Department of Energy (including its predecessor agencies), and of contractors of the Department, who may be members of the group of covered employees; the establishment of a process to receive and administer claims for compensation for disability or death of covered employees; the submittal by the President of a legislative proposal for compensation of such employees that includes the estimated annual budget resources for that compensation; and consideration by the Congress of the legislative proposal submitted by the President; and payments from that fund should commence not later than fiscal year 2002. Not later than December 31, 2006, the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health shall submit to Congress an update to the report required by section 3151(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107–107; 42 U.S.C. 7384 note). for each facility for which such report found that insufficient information was available to determine whether significant residual contamination was present, determine whether significant residual contamination was present; for each facility for which such report found that significant residual contamination remained present as of the date of the report, determine the date on which such contamination ceased to be present; for each facility for which such report found that significant residual contamination was present but for which the Director has been unable to determine the extent to which such contamination is attributable to atomic weapons-related activities, identify the specific dates of coverage attributable to such activities and, in so identifying, presume that such contamination is attributable to such activities until there is evidence of decontamination of residual contamination identified with atomic weapons-related activities; for each facility for which such report found significant residual contamination, determine whether it is at least as likely as not that such contamination could have caused an employee who was employed at such facility only during the residual contamination period to contract a cancer or beryllium illness compensable under subtitle B of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 [42 U.S.C. 7384l et seq.]; and if new information that pertains to the report has been made available to the Director since that report was submitted, identify and describe such information. The Director shall ensure that the report referred to in subsection (a) is published in the Federal Register not later than 15 days after being released.” Whether or not significant contamination remained in any atomic weapons employer facility or facility of a beryllium vendor after such facility discontinued activities relating to the production of nuclear weapons. If so, whether or not such contamination could have caused or substantially contributed to the cancer of a covered employee with cancer or a covered beryllium illness, as the case may be. Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 28, 2001], a report on the progress made as of the date of the report on the study required by paragraph (1). Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, a final report on the study required by paragraph (1). the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Appropriations, Committee on the Judiciary, and Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Appropriations, Committee on the Judiciary, and Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives. Amounts for the study under paragraph (1) shall be derived from amounts authorized to be appropriated by section 3614(a) of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (114 Stat. 1654A–498) [42 U.S.C. 7384g(a)]. The terms ‘atomic weapons employer facility’, ‘beryllium vendor’, ‘covered employee with cancer’, and ‘covered beryllium illness’ have the meanings given those terms in section 3621 of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (114 Stat. 1654A–498; 42 U.S.C. 7384l). material that emitted radiation and was used in the production of an atomic weapon, excluding uranium mining and milling; or beryllium dust, particles, or vapor, The Congress finds the following: It is the sense of Congress that— payments from that fund should be made only after— The update shall— The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health shall, with the cooperation of the Department of Energy and the Department of Labor, carry out a study on the following matters: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health shall submit to the applicable congressional committees the following reports: In this paragraph, the term ‘applicable congressional committees’ means— In this subsection: The term ‘contamination’ means the presence of any— (Source: (Pub. L. 106–398, § 1 [div. C, title XXXVI, § 3602], Oct. 30, 2000, 114 Stat. 1654, 1654A–495.))