118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION S. 3853
AN ACT
To extend the period for filing claims under the Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act and to provide for com-
pensation under such Act for claims relating to Manhat-
tan Project waste, and to improve compensation for
workers involved in uranium mining.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
†S 3853 ES
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2
‘‘Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization 3
Act’’. 4
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 5
this Act is as follows: 6
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I—MANHATTAN PROJECT WASTE
Sec. 101. Short title.
Sec. 102. Claims relating to Manhattan Project waste.
Sec. 103. Cooperative agreement.
TITLE II—COMPENSATION FOR WORKERS INVOLVED IN URA-
NIUM MINING AND INDIVIDUALS LIVING DOWNWIND OF AT-
MOSPHERIC NUCLEAR TESTING
Sec. 201. Short title.
Sec. 202. References.
Sec. 203. Extension of fund.
Sec. 204. Claims relating to atmospheric testing.
Sec. 205. Claims relating to uranium mining.
Sec. 206. Expansion of use of affidavits in determination of claims; regulations.
Sec. 207. Limitation on claims.
Sec. 208. Grant program on epidemiological impacts of uranium mining and
milling.
Sec. 209. Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.
Sec. 210. GAO study and report.
TITLE I—MANHATTAN PROJECT 7
WASTE 8
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 9
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This title may be cited as the 10
‘‘Radiation Exposure Compensation Expansion Act’’. 11 3
†S 3853 ES
SEC. 102. CLAIMS RELATING TO MANHATTAN PROJECT 1
WASTE. 2
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public 3
Law 101–426; 42 U.S.C. 2210 note) is amended by insert-4
ing after section 5 the following: 5
‘‘SEC. 5A. CLAIMS RELATING TO MANHATTAN PROJECT 6
WASTE. 7
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—A claimant shall receive com-8
pensation for a claim made under this Act, as described 9
in subsection (b) or (c), if— 10
‘‘(1) a claim for compensation is filed with the 11
Attorney General— 12
‘‘(A) by an individual described in para-13
graph (2); or 14
‘‘(B) on behalf of that individual by an au-15
thorized agent of that individual, if the indi-16
vidual is deceased or incapacitated, such as— 17
‘‘(i) an executor of estate of that indi-18
vidual; or 19
‘‘(ii) a legal guardian or conservator 20
of that individual; 21
‘‘(2) that individual, or if applicable, an author-22
ized agent of that individual, demonstrates that the 23
individual— 24 4
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(A) was physically present in an affected 1
area for a period of at least 2 years after Janu-2
ary 1, 1949; and 3
‘‘(B) contracted a specified disease after 4
such period of physical presence; 5
‘‘(3) the Attorney General certifies that the 6
identity of that individual, and if applicable, the au-7
thorized agent of that individual, is not fraudulent 8
or otherwise misrepresented; and 9
‘‘(4) the Attorney General determines that the 10
claimant has satisfied the applicable requirements of 11
this Act. 12
‘‘(b) L
OSSESAVAILABLE TOLIVINGAFFECTEDINDI-13
VIDUALS.— 14
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In the event of a claim 15
qualifying for compensation under subsection (a) 16
that is submitted to the Attorney General to be eligi-17
ble for compensation under this section at a time 18
when the individual described in subsection (a)(2) is 19
living, the amount of compensation under this sec-20
tion shall be in an amount that is the greater of 21
$50,000 or the total amount of compensation for 22
which the individual is eligible under paragraph (2). 23
‘‘(2) L
OSSES DUE TO MEDICAL EXPENSES .—A 24
claimant described in paragraph (1) shall be eligible 25 5
†S 3853 ES
to receive, upon submission of contemporaneous 1
written medical records, reports, or billing state-2
ments created by or at the direction of a licensed 3
medical professional who provided contemporaneous 4
medical care to the claimant, additional compensa-5
tion in the amount of all documented out-of-pocket 6
medical expenses incurred as a result of the specified 7
disease suffered by that claimant, such as any med-8
ical expenses not covered, paid for, or reimbursed 9
through— 10
‘‘(A) any public or private health insur-11
ance; 12
‘‘(B) any employee health insurance; 13
‘‘(C) any workers’ compensation program; 14
or 15
‘‘(D) any other public, private, or employee 16
health program or benefit. 17
‘‘(c) P
AYMENTS TO BENEFICIARIES OFDECEASED 18
I
NDIVIDUALS.—In the event that an individual described 19
in subsection (a)(2) who qualifies for compensation under 20
subsection (a) is deceased at the time of submission of 21
the claim— 22
‘‘(1) a surviving spouse may, upon submission 23
of a claim and records sufficient to satisfy the re-24
quirements of subsection (a) with respect to the de-25 6
†S 3853 ES
ceased individual, receive compensation in the 1
amount of $25,000; or 2
‘‘(2) in the event that there is no surviving 3
spouse, the surviving children, minor or otherwise, of 4
the deceased individual may, upon submission of a 5
claim and records sufficient to satisfy the require-6
ments of subsection (a) with respect to the deceased 7
individual, receive compensation in the total amount 8
of $25,000, paid in equal shares to each surviving 9
child. 10
‘‘(d) A
FFECTEDAREA.—For purposes of this section, 11
the term ‘affected area’ means— 12
‘‘(1) in the State of Missouri, the ZIP Codes of 13
63031, 63033, 63034, 63042, 63045, 63074, 63114, 14
63135, 63138, 63044, 63121, 63140, 63145, 63147, 15
63102, 63304, 63134, 63043, 63341, 63368, and 16
63367; 17
‘‘(2) in the State of Tennessee, the ZIP Codes 18
of 37716, 37840, 37719, 37748, 37763, 37828, 19
37769, 37710, 37845, 37887, 37829, 37854, 37830, 20
and 37831; 21
‘‘(3) in the State of Alaska, the ZIP Codes of 22
99546 and 99547; and 23
‘‘(4) in the State of Kentucky, the ZIP Codes 24
of 42001, 42003, and 42086. 25 7
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‘‘(e) SPECIFIEDDISEASE.—For purposes of this sec-1
tion, the term ‘specified disease’ means any of the fol-2
lowing: 3
‘‘(1) Any leukemia, other than chronic 4
lymphocytic leukemia, provided that the initial expo-5
sure occurred after the age of 20 and the onset of 6
the disease was at least 2 years after first exposure. 7
‘‘(2) Any of the following diseases, provided 8
that the onset was at least 2 years after the initial 9
exposure: 10
‘‘(A) Multiple myeloma. 11
‘‘(B) Lymphoma, other than Hodgkin’s 12
disease. 13
‘‘(C) Primary cancer of the— 14
‘‘(i) thyroid; 15
‘‘(ii) male or female breast; 16
‘‘(iii) esophagus; 17
‘‘(iv) stomach; 18
‘‘(v) pharynx; 19
‘‘(vi) small intestine; 20
‘‘(vii) pancreas; 21
‘‘(viii) bile ducts; 22
‘‘(ix) gall bladder; 23
‘‘(x) salivary gland; 24
‘‘(xi) urinary bladder; 25 8
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(xii) brain; 1
‘‘(xiii) colon; 2
‘‘(xiv) ovary; 3
‘‘(xv) bone; 4
‘‘(xvi) renal; 5
‘‘(xvii) liver, except if cirrhosis or hep-6
atitis B is indicated; or 7
‘‘(xviii) lung. 8
‘‘(f) P
HYSICALPRESENCE.— 9
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-10
tion, the Attorney General shall not determine that 11
a claimant has satisfied the requirements of sub-12
section (a) unless demonstrated by submission of— 13
‘‘(A) contemporaneous written residential 14
documentation and at least 1 additional em-15
ployer-issued or government-issued document or 16
record that the claimant, for at least 2 years 17
after January 1, 1949, was physically present 18
in an affected area; or 19
‘‘(B) other documentation determined by 20
the Attorney General to demonstrate that the 21
claimant, for at least 2 years after January 1, 22
1949, was physically present in an affected 23
area. 24 9
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(2) TYPES OF PHYSICAL PRESENCE .—For 1
purposes of determining physical presence under this 2
section, a claimant shall be considered to have been 3
physically present in an affected area if— 4
‘‘(A) the claimant’s primary residence was 5
in the affected area; 6
‘‘(B) the claimant’s place of employment 7
was in the affected area; or 8
‘‘(C) the claimant attended school in the 9
affected area. 10
‘‘(g) D
ISEASECONTRACTION IN AFFECTED 11
A
REAS.—For purposes of this section, the Attorney Gen-12
eral shall not determine that a claimant has satisfied the 13
requirements of subsection (a) unless the claimant sub-14
mits— 15
‘‘(1) written medical records or reports created 16
by or at the direction of a licensed medical profes-17
sional, created contemporaneously with the provision 18
of medical care to the claimant, that the claimant, 19
after a period of physical presence in an affected 20
area, contracted a specified disease; or 21
‘‘(2) other documentation determined by the At-22
torney General to demonstrate that the claimant 23
contracted a specified disease after a period of phys-24
ical presence in an affected area.’’. 25 10
†S 3853 ES
SEC. 103. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than September 30, 2
2024, the Secretary of Energy, acting through the Direc-3
tor of the Office of Legacy Management, shall award to 4
an eligible association a cooperative agreement to support 5
the safeguarding of human and ecological health at the 6
Amchitka, Alaska, Site. 7
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.—A cooperative agreement 8
awarded under subsection (a)— 9
(1) may be used to fund— 10
(A) research and development that will im-11
prove and focus long-term surveillance and 12
monitoring of the site; 13
(B) workforce development at the site; and 14
(C) such other activities as the Secretary 15
considers appropriate; and 16
(2) shall require that the eligible association— 17
(A) engage in stakeholder engagement; and 18
(B) to the greatest extent practicable, in-19
corporate Indigenous knowledge and the partici-20
pation of local Indian Tribes in research and 21
development and workforce development activi-22
ties. 23
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 24 11
†S 3853 ES
(1) ELIGIBLE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘eligi-1
ble association’’ means an association of 2 or more 2
of the following: 3
(A) An institution of higher education (as 4
that term is defined in section 101(a) of the 5
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6
1001(a))) located in the State of Alaska. 7
(B) An agency of the State of Alaska. 8
(C) A local Indian Tribe. 9
(D) An organization— 10
(i) described in section 501(c)(3) of 11
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and ex-12
empt from taxation under section 501(a) 13
of such Code; and 14
(ii) located in the State of Alaska. 15
(2) L
OCAL INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘local In-16
dian Tribe’’ means an Indian tribe (as that term is 17
defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 18
and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)) 19
that is located in the Aleut Region of the State of 20
Alaska. 21 12
†S 3853 ES
TITLE II—COMPENSATION FOR 1
WORKERS INVOLVED IN URA-2
NIUM MINING AND INDIVID-3
UALS LIVING DOWNWIND OF 4
ATMOSPHERIC NUCLEAR 5
TESTING 6
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 7
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Radiation Exposure 8
Compensation Act Amendments of 2024’’. 9
SEC. 202. REFERENCES. 10
Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 11
this title an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 12
of an amendment to or repeal of a section or other provi-13
sion of law, the reference shall be considered to be made 14
to a section or other provision of the Radiation Exposure 15
Compensation Act (Public Law 101–426; 42 U.S.C. 2210 16
note). 17
SEC. 203. EXTENSION OF FUND. 18
Section 3(d) is amended— 19
(1) by striking the first sentence and inserting 20
‘‘The Fund shall terminate 6 years after the date of 21
the enactment of the Radiation Exposure Compensa-22
tion Act Amendments of 2024.’’; and 23
(2) by striking ‘‘2-year’’ and inserting ‘‘6-year’’. 24 13
†S 3853 ES
SEC. 204. CLAIMS RELATING TO ATMOSPHERIC TESTING. 1
(a) L
EUKEMIACLAIMSRELATING TOTRINITYTEST 2
INNEWMEXICO ANDTESTS AT THENEVADASITE AND 3
IN THEPACIFIC.—Section 4(a)(1)(A) is amended— 4
(1) in clause (i)— 5
(A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘October 6
31, 1958’’ and inserting ‘‘November 6, 1962’’; 7
(B) in subclause (II)— 8
(i) by striking ‘‘in the affected area’’ 9
and inserting ‘‘in an affected area’’; and 10
(ii) by striking ‘‘or’’ after the semi-11
colon; 12
(C) by redesignating subclause (III) as 13
subclause (V); and 14
(D) by inserting after subclause (II) the 15
following: 16
‘‘(III) was physically present in an af-17
fected area for a period of at least 1 year 18
during the period beginning on September 19
24, 1944, and ending on November 6, 20
1962; 21
‘‘(IV) was physically present in an af-22
fected area— 23
‘‘(aa) for a period of at least 1 24
year during the period beginning on 25 14
†S 3853 ES
July 1, 1946, and ending on Novem-1
ber 6, 1962; or 2
‘‘(bb) for the period beginning on 3
April 25, 1962, and ending on No-4
vember 6, 1962; or’’; and 5
(2) in clause (ii)(I), by striking ‘‘physical pres-6
ence described in subclause (I) or (II) of clause (i) 7
or onsite participation described in clause (i)(III)’’ 8
and inserting ‘‘physical presence described in sub-9
clause (I), (II), (III), or (IV) of clause (i) or onsite 10
participation described in clause (i)(V)’’. 11
(b) A
MOUNTS FOR CLAIMSRELATED TO LEU-12
KEMIA.—Section 4(a)(1) is amended— 13
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘an 14
amount’’ and inserting ‘‘the amount’’; and 15
(2) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting 16
the following: 17
‘‘(B) A
MOUNT.—If the conditions de-18
scribed in subparagraph (C) are met, an indi-19
vidual who is described in subparagraph (A) 20
shall receive $100,000.’’. 21
(c) C
ONDITIONS FOR CLAIMSRELATED TO LEU-22
KEMIA.—Section 4(a)(1)(C) is amended— 23
(1) by striking clause (i); and 24 15
†S 3853 ES
(2) by redesignating clauses (ii) and (iii) as 1
clauses (i) and (ii), respectively. 2
(d) S
PECIFIEDDISEASESCLAIMSRELATING TO 3
T
RINITYTEST INNEWMEXICO ANDTESTS AT THENE-4
VADASITE AND IN THE PACIFIC.—Section 4(a)(2) is 5
amended— 6
(1) in subparagraph (A)— 7
(A) by striking ‘‘in the affected area’’ and 8
inserting ‘‘in an affected area’’; 9
(B) by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and inserting ‘‘1 10
year’’; and 11
(C) by striking ‘‘October 31, 1958’’ and 12
inserting ‘‘November 6, 1962’’; 13
(2) in subparagraph (B)— 14
(A) by striking ‘‘in the affected area’’ and 15
inserting ‘‘in an affected area’’; and 16
(B) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 17
(3) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub-18
paragraph (E); and 19
(4) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol-20
lowing: 21
‘‘(C) was physically present in an affected 22
area for a period of at least 1 year during the 23
period beginning on September 24, 1944, and 24
ending on November 6, 1962; 25 16
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(D) was physically present in an affected 1
area— 2
‘‘(i) for a period of at least 1 year 3
during the period beginning on July 1, 4
1946, and ending on November 6, 1962; or 5
‘‘(ii) for the period beginning on April 6
25, 1962, and ending on November 6, 7
1962; or’’. 8
(e) A
MOUNTS FORCLAIMSRELATED TOSPECIFIED 9
D
ISEASES.—Section 4(a)(2) is amended in the matter fol-10
lowing subparagraph (E) (as redesignated by subsection 11
(d) of this section) by striking ‘‘$50,000 (in the case of 12
an individual described in subparagraph (A) or (B)) or 13
$75,000 (in the case of an individual described in subpara-14
graph (C)),’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’. 15
(f) D
OWNWINDSTATES.—Section 4(b)(1) is amended 16
to read as follows: 17
‘‘(1) ‘affected area’ means— 18
‘‘(A) except as provided under subpara-19
graphs (B) and (C), Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, 20
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and 21
Guam; 22
‘‘(B) with respect to a claim by an indi-23
vidual under subsection (a)(1)(A)(i)(III) or sub-24
section (a)(2)(C), only New Mexico; and 25 17
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(C) with respect to a claim by an indi-1
vidual under subsection (a)(1)(A)(i)(IV) or sub-2
section (a)(2)(D), only Guam.’’. 3
(g) C
HRONICLYMPHOCYTICLEUKEMIA AS ASPECI-4
FIEDDISEASE.—Section 4(b)(2) is amended by striking 5
‘‘other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia’’ and inserting 6
‘‘including chronic lymphocytic leukemia’’. 7
SEC. 205. CLAIMS RELATING TO URANIUM MINING. 8
(a) E
MPLOYEES OF MINES ANDMILLS.—Section 9
5(a)(1)(A)(i) is amended— 10
(1) by inserting ‘‘(I)’’ after ‘‘(i)’’; 11
(2) by striking ‘‘December 31, 1971; and’’ and 12
inserting ‘‘December 31, 1990; or’’; and 13
(3) by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(II) was employed as a core driller in 15
a State referred to in subclause (I) during 16
the period described in such subclause; 17
and’’. 18
(b) M
INERS.—Section 5(a)(1)(A)(ii)(I) is amended 19
by inserting ‘‘or renal cancer or any other chronic renal 20
disease, including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue in-21
jury’’ after ‘‘nonmalignant respiratory disease’’. 22
(c) M
ILLERS, COREDRILLERS, ANDORETRANS-23
PORTERS.—Section 5(a)(1)(A)(ii)(II) is amended— 24 18
†S 3853 ES
(1) by inserting ‘‘, core driller,’’ after ‘‘was a 1
miller’’; 2
(2) by inserting ‘‘, or was involved in remedi-3
ation efforts at such a uranium mine or uranium 4
mill,’’ after ‘‘ore transporter’’; 5
(3) by inserting ‘‘(I)’’ after ‘‘clause (i)’’; and 6
(4) by striking all that follows ‘‘nonmalignant 7
respiratory disease’’ and inserting ‘‘or renal cancer 8
or any other chronic renal disease, including nephri-9
tis and kidney tubal tissue injury; or’’. 10
(d) C
OMBINED WORK HISTORIES.—Section 11
5(a)(1)(A)(ii) is further amended— 12
(1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subclause (I); 13
and 14
(2) by adding at the end the following: 15
‘‘(III)(aa) does not meet the condi-16
tions of subclause (I) or (II); 17
‘‘(bb) worked, during the period de-18
scribed in clause (i)(I), in two or more of 19
the following positions: miner, miller, core 20
driller, and ore transporter; 21
‘‘(cc) meets the requirements of para-22
graph (4) or (5), or both; and 23
‘‘(dd) submits written medical docu-24
mentation that the individual developed 25 19
†S 3853 ES
lung cancer or a nonmalignant respiratory 1
disease or renal cancer or any other chron-2
ic renal disease, including nephritis and 3
kidney tubal tissue injury after exposure to 4
radiation through work in one or more of 5
the positions referred to in item (bb);’’. 6
(e) D
ATES OFOPERATION OFURANIUMMINE.—Sec-7
tion 5(a)(2)(A) is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 8
1971’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 1990’’. 9
(f) S
PECIALRULESRELATING TOCOMBINEDWORK 10
H
ISTORIES.—Section 5(a) is amended by adding at the 11
end the following: 12
‘‘(4) S
PECIAL RULE RELATING TO COMBINED 13
WORK HISTORIES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH AT LEAST 14
ONE YEAR OF EXPERIENCE .—An individual meets 15
the requirements of this paragraph if the individual 16
worked in one or more of the positions referred to 17
in paragraph (1)(A)(ii)(III)(bb) for a period of at 18
least one year during the period described in para-19
graph (1)(A)(i)(I). 20
‘‘(5) S
PECIAL RULE RELATING TO COMBINED 21
WORK HISTORIES FOR MINERS .—An individual 22
meets the requirements of this paragraph if the indi-23
vidual, during the period described in paragraph 24
(1)(A)(i)(I), worked as a miner and was exposed to 25 20
†S 3853 ES
such number of working level months that the Attor-1
ney General determines, when combined with the ex-2
posure of such individual to radiation through work 3
as a miller, core driller, or ore transporter during 4
the period described in paragraph (1)(A)(i)(I), re-5
sults in such individual being exposed to a total level 6
of radiation that is greater or equal to the level of 7
exposure of an individual described in paragraph 8
(4).’’. 9
(g) D
EFINITION OFCOREDRILLER.—Section 5(b) is 10
amended— 11
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 12
(7); 13
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-14
graph (8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 15
(3) by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(9) the term ‘core driller’ means any indi-17
vidual employed to engage in the act or process of 18
obtaining cylindrical rock samples of uranium or va-19
nadium by means of a borehole drilling machine for 20
the purpose of mining uranium or vanadium.’’. 21
SEC. 206. EXPANSION OF USE OF AFFIDAVITS IN DETER-22
MINATION OF CLAIMS; REGULATIONS. 23
(a) A
FFIDAVITS.—Section 6(b) is amended by adding 24
at the end the following: 25 21
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(3) AFFIDAVITS.— 1
‘‘(A) E
MPLOYMENT HISTORY .—For pur-2
poses of this Act, the Attorney General shall ac-3
cept a written affidavit or declaration as evi-4
dence to substantiate the employment history of 5
an individual as a miner, miller, core driller, or 6
ore transporter if the affidavit— 7
‘‘(i) is provided in addition to other 8
material that may be used to substantiate 9
the employment history of the individual; 10
‘‘(ii) attests to the employment history 11
of the individual; 12
‘‘(iii) is made subject to penalty for 13
perjury; and 14
‘‘(iv) is made by a person other than 15
the individual filing the claim. 16
‘‘(B) P
HYSICAL PRESENCE IN AFFECTED 17
AREA.—For purposes of this Act, the Attorney 18
General shall accept a written affidavit or dec-19
laration as evidence to substantiate an individ-20
ual’s physical presence in an affected area (as 21
defined in section 4(b)(1)) during a period de-22
scribed in section 4(a)(1)(A)(i) or section 23
4(a)(2) if the affidavit— 24 22
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(i) is provided in addition to other 1
material that may be used to substantiate 2
the individual’s presence in an affected 3
area during that time period; 4
‘‘(ii) attests to the individual’s pres-5
ence in an affected area during that pe-6
riod; 7
‘‘(iii) is made subject to penalty for 8
perjury; and 9
‘‘(iv) is made by a person other than 10
the individual filing the claim. 11
‘‘(C) P
ARTICIPATION AT TESTING SITE .— 12
For purposes of this Act, the Attorney General 13
shall accept a written affidavit or declaration as 14
evidence to substantiate an individual’s partici-15
pation onsite in a test involving the atmospheric 16
detonation of a nuclear device if the affidavit— 17
‘‘(i) is provided in addition to other 18
material that may be used to substantiate 19
the individual’s participation onsite in a 20
test involving the atmospheric detonation 21
of a nuclear device; 22
‘‘(ii) attests to the individual’s partici-23
pation onsite in a test involving the atmos-24
pheric detonation of a nuclear device; 25 23
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(iii) is made subject to penalty for 1
perjury; and 2
‘‘(iv) is made by a person other than 3
the individual filing the claim.’’. 4
(b) T
ECHNICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 5
Section 6 is amended— 6
(1) in subsection (b)(2)(C), by striking ‘‘section 7
4(a)(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 4(a)(2)(E)’’; 8
(2) in subsection (c)(2)— 9
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 10
(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 11
by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), 12
or (a)(2)(B) of section 4’’ and inserting 13
‘‘subsection (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(2)(B), 14
(a)(2)(C), or (a)(2)(D) of section 4’’; and 15
(ii) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘sub-16
section (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), or (a)(2)(B) of 17
section 4’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 18
(a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(2)(B), (a)(2)(C), or 19
(a)(2)(D) of section 4’’; and 20
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘sec-21
tion 4(a)(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 22
4(a)(2)(E)’’; and 23
(3) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘subsection 24
(a)(1), (a)(2)(A), or (a)(2)(B) of section 4’’ and in-25 24
†S 3853 ES
serting ‘‘subsection (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(2)(B), 1
(a)(2)(C), or (a)(2)(D) of section 4’’. 2
(c) R
EGULATIONS.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 6(k) is amended by 4
adding at the end the following: ‘‘Not later than 180 5
days after the date of enactment of the Radiation 6
Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2024, 7
the Attorney General shall issue revised regulations 8
to carry out this Act.’’. 9
(2) C
ONSIDERATIONS IN REVISIONS .—In 10
issuing revised regulations under section 6(k) of the 11
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public Law 12
101–426; 42 U.S.C. 2210 note), as amended under 13
paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall ensure 14
that procedures with respect to the submission and 15
processing of claims under such Act take into ac-16
count and make allowances for the law, tradition, 17
and customs of Indian tribes, including by accepting 18
as a record of proof of physical presence for a claim-19
ant a grazing permit, a homesite lease, a record of 20
being a holder of a post office box, a letter from an 21
elected leader of an Indian tribe, or a record of any 22
recognized tribal association or organization. 23 25
†S 3853 ES
SEC. 207. LIMITATION ON CLAIMS. 1
(a) E
XTENSION OFFILINGTIME.—Section 8(a) is 2
amended— 3
(1) by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and inserting ‘‘5 4
years’’; and 5
(2) by striking ‘‘RECA Extension Act of 2022’’ 6
and inserting ‘‘Radiation Exposure Compensation 7
Act Amendments of 2024’’. 8
(b) R
ESUBMITTAL OF CLAIMS.—Section 8(b) is 9
amended to read as follows: 10
‘‘(b) R
ESUBMITTAL OFCLAIMS.— 11
‘‘(1) D
ENIED CLAIMS.—After the date of enact-12
ment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 13
Amendments of 2024, any claimant who has been 14
denied compensation under this Act may resubmit a 15
claim for consideration by the Attorney General in 16
accordance with this Act not more than three times. 17
Any resubmittal made before the date of the enact-18
ment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 19
Amendments of 2024 shall not be applied to the lim-20
itation under the preceding sentence. 21
‘‘(2) P
REVIOUSLY SUCCESSFUL CLAIMS .— 22
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—After the date of en-23
actment of the Radiation Exposure Compensa-24
tion Act Amendments of 2024, any claimant 25
who received compensation under this Act may 26 26
†S 3853 ES
submit a request to the Attorney General for 1
additional compensation and benefits. Such re-2
quest shall contain— 3
‘‘(i) the claimant’s name, social secu-4
rity number, and date of birth; 5
‘‘(ii) the amount of award received 6
under this Act before the date of enact-7
ment of the Radiation Exposure Com-8
pensation Act Amendments of 2024; 9
‘‘(iii) any additional benefits and com-10
pensation sought through such request; 11
and 12
‘‘(iv) any additional information re-13
quired by the Attorney General. 14
‘‘(B) A
DDITIONAL COMPENSATION .—If the 15
claimant received compensation under this Act 16
before the date of enactment of the Radiation 17
Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 18
2024 and submits a request under subpara-19
graph (A), the Attorney General shall— 20
‘‘(i) pay the claimant the amount that 21
is equal to any excess of— 22
‘‘(I) the amount the claimant is 23
eligible to receive under this Act (as 24
amended by the Radiation Exposure 25 27
†S 3853 ES
Compensation Act Amendments of 1
2024); minus 2
‘‘(II) the aggregate amount paid 3
to the claimant under this Act before 4
the date of enactment of the Radi-5
ation Exposure Compensation Act 6
Amendments of 2024; and 7
‘‘(ii) in any case in which the claimant 8
was compensated under section 4, provide 9
the claimant with medical benefits under 10
section 4(a)(5).’’. 11
SEC. 208. GRANT PROGRAM ON EPIDEMIOLOGICAL IM-12
PACTS OF URANIUM MINING AND MILLING. 13
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 14
(1) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 15
has the meaning given under section 101 of the 16
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001); 17
(2) the term ‘‘program’’ means the grant pro-18
gram established under subsection (b); and 19
(3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 20
of Health and Human Services. 21
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 22
a grant program relating to the epidemiological impacts 23
of uranium mining and milling. Grants awarded under the 24
program shall be used for the study of the epidemiological 25 28
†S 3853 ES
impacts of uranium mining and milling among non-occu-1
pationally exposed individuals, including family members 2
of uranium miners and millers. 3
(c) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall admin-4
ister the program through the National Institute of Envi-5
ronmental Health Sciences. 6
(d) E
LIGIBILITY ANDAPPLICATION.—Any institution 7
of higher education or nonprofit private entity shall be eli-8
gible to apply for a grant. To apply for a grant an eligible 9
institution or entity shall submit to the Secretary an appli-10
cation at such time, in such manner, and containing or 11
accompanied by such information as the Secretary may 12
reasonably require. 13
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 14
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 15
$3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2026. 16
SEC. 209. ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS 17
COMPENSATION PROGRAM. 18
(a) C
OVEREDEMPLOYEESWITHCANCER.—Section 19
3621(9) of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 20
Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384l(9)) 21
is amended by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting 22
the following: 23 29
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(A) An individual with a specified cancer 1
who is a member of the Special Exposure Co-2
hort, if and only if— 3
‘‘(i) that individual contracted that 4
specified cancer after beginning employ-5
ment at a Department of Energy facility 6
(in the case of a Department of Energy 7
employee or Department of Energy con-8
tractor employee) or at an atomic weapons 9
employer facility (in the case of an atomic 10
weapons employee); or 11
‘‘(ii) that individual— 12
‘‘(I) contracted that specified 13
cancer after beginning employment in 14
a uranium mine or uranium mill de-15
scribed under section 5(a)(1)(A)(i) of 16
the Radiation Exposure Compensation 17
Act (42 U.S.C. 2210 note) (including 18
any individual who was employed in 19
core drilling or the transport of ura-20
nium ore or vanadium-uranium ore 21
from such mine or mill) located in 22
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyo-23
ming, South Dakota, Washington, 24
Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, 25 30
†S 3853 ES
Texas, or any State the Attorney Gen-1
eral makes a determination under sec-2
tion 5(a)(2) of that Act for inclusion 3
of eligibility under section 5(a)(1) of 4
that Act; and 5
‘‘(II) was employed in a uranium 6
mine or uranium mill described under 7
subclause (I) (including any individual 8
who was employed in core drilling or 9
the transport of uranium ore or vana-10
dium-uranium ore from such mine or 11
mill) at any time during the period 12
beginning on January 1, 1942, and 13
ending on December 31, 1990.’’. 14
(b) M
EMBERS OFSPECIALEXPOSURECOHORT.— 15
Section 3626 of the Energy Employees Occupational Ill-16
ness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 17
7384q) is amended— 18
(1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (1) 19
and inserting the following: 20
‘‘(1) The Advisory Board on Radiation and 21
Worker Health under section 3624 shall advise the 22
President whether there is a class of employees— 23
‘‘(A) at any Department of Energy facility 24
who likely were exposed to radiation at that fa-25 31
†S 3853 ES
cility but for whom it is not feasible to estimate 1
with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose they 2
received; and 3
‘‘(B) employed in a uranium mine or ura-4
nium mill described under section 5(a)(1)(A)(i) 5
of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 6
(42 U.S.C. 2210 note) (including any individual 7
who was employed in core drilling or the trans-8
port of uranium ore or vanadium-uranium ore 9
from such mine or mill) located in Colorado, 10
New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, 11
Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Or-12
egon, Texas, and any State the Attorney Gen-13
eral makes a determination under section 14
5(a)(2) of that Act for inclusion of eligibility 15
under section 5(a)(1) of that Act, at any time 16
during the period beginning on January 1, 17
1942, and ending on December 31, 1990, who 18
likely were exposed to radiation at that mine or 19
mill but for whom it is not feasible to estimate 20
with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose they 21
received.’’; and 22
(2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 23
following: 24
‘‘(b) D
ESIGNATION OFADDITIONALMEMBERS.— 25 32
†S 3853 ES
‘‘(1) Subject to the provisions of section 1
3621(14)(C), the members of a class of employees at 2
a Department of Energy facility, or at an atomic 3
weapons employer facility, may be treated as mem-4
bers of the Special Exposure Cohort for purposes of 5
the compensation program if the President, upon 6
recommendation of the Advisory Board on Radiation 7
and Worker Health, determines that— 8
‘‘(A) it is not feasible to estimate with suf-9
ficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 10
class received; and 11
‘‘(B) there is a reasonable likelihood that 12
such radiation dose may have endangered the 13
health of members of the class. 14
‘‘(2) Subject to the provisions of section 15
3621(14)(C), the members of a class of employees 16
employed in a uranium mine or uranium mill de-17
scribed under section 5(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Radiation 18
Exposure Compensation Act (42 U.S.C. 2210 note) 19
(including any individual who was employed in core 20
drilling or the transport of uranium ore or vana-21
dium-uranium ore from such mine or mill) located in 22
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South 23
Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, 24
Oregon, Texas, and any State the Attorney General 25 33
†S 3853 ES
makes a determination under section 5(a)(2) of that 1
Act for inclusion of eligibility under section 5(a)(1) 2
of that Act, at any time during the period beginning 3
on January 1, 1942, and ending on December 31, 4
1990, may be treated as members of the Special Ex-5
posure Cohort for purposes of the compensation pro-6
gram if the President, upon recommendation of the 7
Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, 8
determines that— 9
‘‘(A) it is not feasible to estimate with suf-10
ficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 11
class received; and 12
‘‘(B) there is a reasonable likelihood that 13
such radiation dose may have endangered the 14
health of members of the class.’’. 15
SEC. 210. GAO STUDY AND REPORT. 16
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 17
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 18
shall conduct, and submit to Congress a report describing 19
the results of, a study on the importance of, and need for, 20
unmet medical benefits coverage for individuals who were 21
exposed to radiation in atmospheric nuclear tests con-22
ducted by the Federal Government, and recommendations 23 34
†S 3853 ES
to provide such unmet medical benefits coverage for such 1
individuals. 2
Passed the Senate March 7, 2024.
Attest:
Secretary. 118
TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
S. 3853
AN ACT
To extend the period for filing claims under the Ra-
diation Exposure Compensation Act and to pro-
vide for compensation under such Act for claims
relating to Manhattan Project waste, and to im-
prove compensation for workers involved in ura-
nium mining.