II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 243
To extend the period for filing claims under the Radiation Exposure Com-
pensation Act and to provide for compensation under such Act for
claims relating to Manhattan Project waste, and to improve compensation
for workers involved in uranium mining.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY24, 2025
Mr. H
AWLEY(for himself, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. SCHMITT, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr.
K
ELLY, and Mr. CRAPO) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization 5
Act’’. 6
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(b) TABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1
this Act is as follows: 2
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 3
WASTE 4
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 5
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This title may be cited as the 6
‘‘Radiation Exposure Compensation Expansion Act’’. 7
SEC. 102. CLAIMS RELATING TO MANHATTAN PROJECT 8
WASTE. 9
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public 10
Law 101–426; 42 U.S.C. 2210 note) is amended by insert-11
ing after section 5 the following: 12
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‘‘SEC. 5A. CLAIMS RELATING TO MANHATTAN PROJECT 1
WASTE. 2
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—A claimant shall receive com-3
pensation for a claim made under this Act, as described 4
in subsection (b) or (c), if— 5
‘‘(1) a claim for compensation is filed with the 6
Attorney General— 7
‘‘(A) by an individual described in para-8
graph (2); or 9
‘‘(B) on behalf of that individual by an au-10
thorized agent of that individual, if the indi-11
vidual is deceased or incapacitated, such as— 12
‘‘(i) an executor of estate of that indi-13
vidual; or 14
‘‘(ii) a legal guardian or conservator 15
of that individual; 16
‘‘(2) that individual, or if applicable, an author-17
ized agent of that individual, demonstrates that the 18
individual— 19
‘‘(A) was physically present in an affected 20
area for a period of at least 2 years after Janu-21
ary 1, 1949; and 22
‘‘(B) contracted a specified disease after 23
such period of physical presence; 24
‘‘(3) the Attorney General certifies that the 25
identity of that individual, and if applicable, the au-26
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thorized agent of that individual, is not fraudulent 1
or otherwise misrepresented; and 2
‘‘(4) the Attorney General determines that the 3
claimant has satisfied the applicable requirements of 4
this Act. 5
‘‘(b) L
OSSESAVAILABLE TOLIVINGAFFECTEDINDI-6
VIDUALS.— 7
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In the event of a claim 8
qualifying for compensation under subsection (a) 9
that is submitted to the Attorney General to be eligi-10
ble for compensation under this section at a time 11
when the individual described in subsection (a)(2) is 12
living, the amount of compensation under this sec-13
tion shall be in an amount that is the greater of 14
$50,000 or the total amount of compensation for 15
which the individual is eligible under paragraph (2). 16
‘‘(2) L
OSSES DUE TO MEDICAL EXPENSES .—A 17
claimant described in paragraph (1) shall be eligible 18
to receive, upon submission of contemporaneous 19
written medical records, reports, or billing state-20
ments created by or at the direction of a licensed 21
medical professional who provided contemporaneous 22
medical care to the claimant, additional compensa-23
tion in the amount of all documented out-of-pocket 24
medical expenses incurred as a result of the specified 25
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disease suffered by that claimant, such as any med-1
ical expenses not covered, paid for, or reimbursed 2
through— 3
‘‘(A) any public or private health insur-4
ance; 5
‘‘(B) any employee health insurance; 6
‘‘(C) any workers’ compensation program; 7
or 8
‘‘(D) any other public, private, or employee 9
health program or benefit. 10
‘‘(c) P
AYMENTS TO BENEFICIARIES OFDECEASED 11
I
NDIVIDUALS.—In the event that an individual described 12
in subsection (a)(2) who qualifies for compensation under 13
subsection (a) is deceased at the time of submission of 14
the claim— 15
‘‘(1) a surviving spouse may, upon submission 16
of a claim and records sufficient to satisfy the re-17
quirements of subsection (a) with respect to the de-18
ceased individual, receive compensation in the 19
amount of $25,000; or 20
‘‘(2) in the event that there is no surviving 21
spouse, the surviving children, minor or otherwise, of 22
the deceased individual may, upon submission of a 23
claim and records sufficient to satisfy the require-24
ments of subsection (a) with respect to the deceased 25
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individual, receive compensation in the total amount 1
of $25,000, paid in equal shares to each surviving 2
child. 3
‘‘(d) A
FFECTEDAREA.—For purposes of this section, 4
the term ‘affected area’ means— 5
‘‘(1) in the State of Missouri, the ZIP Codes of 6
63031, 63033, 63034, 63042, 63045, 63074, 63114, 7
63135, 63138, 63044, 63121, 63140, 63145, 63147, 8
63102, 63304, 63134, 63043, 63341, 63368, and 9
63367; 10
‘‘(2) in the State of Tennessee, the ZIP Codes 11
of 37716, 37840, 37719, 37748, 37763, 37828, 12
37769, 37710, 37845, 37887, 37829, 37854, 37830, 13
and 37831; 14
‘‘(3) in the State of Alaska, the ZIP Codes of 15
99546 and 99547; and 16
‘‘(4) in the State of Kentucky, the ZIP Codes 17
of 42001, 42003, and 42086. 18
‘‘(e) S
PECIFIEDDISEASE.—For purposes of this sec-19
tion, the term ‘specified disease’ means any of the fol-20
lowing: 21
‘‘(1) Any leukemia, other than chronic 22
lymphocytic leukemia, provided that the initial expo-23
sure occurred after the age of 20 and the onset of 24
the disease was at least 2 years after first exposure. 25
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‘‘(2) Any of the following diseases, provided 1
that the onset was at least 2 years after the initial 2
exposure: 3
‘‘(A) Multiple myeloma. 4
‘‘(B) Lymphoma, other than Hodgkin’s 5
disease. 6
‘‘(C) Primary cancer of the— 7
‘‘(i) thyroid; 8
‘‘(ii) male or female breast; 9
‘‘(iii) esophagus; 10
‘‘(iv) stomach; 11
‘‘(v) pharynx; 12
‘‘(vi) small intestine; 13
‘‘(vii) pancreas; 14
‘‘(viii) bile ducts; 15
‘‘(ix) gall bladder; 16
‘‘(x) salivary gland; 17
‘‘(xi) urinary bladder; 18
‘‘(xii) brain; 19
‘‘(xiii) colon; 20
‘‘(xiv) ovary; 21
‘‘(xv) bone; 22
‘‘(xvi) renal; 23
‘‘(xvii) liver, except if cirrhosis or hep-24
atitis B is indicated; or 25
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‘‘(xviii) lung. 1
‘‘(f) P
HYSICALPRESENCE.— 2
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-3
tion, the Attorney General shall not determine that 4
a claimant has satisfied the requirements of sub-5
section (a) unless demonstrated by submission of— 6
‘‘(A) contemporaneous written residential 7
documentation and at least 1 additional em-8
ployer-issued or government-issued document or 9
record that the claimant, for at least 2 years 10
after January 1, 1949, was physically present 11
in an affected area; or 12
‘‘(B) other documentation determined by 13
the Attorney General to demonstrate that the 14
claimant, for at least 2 years after January 1, 15
1949, was physically present in an affected 16
area. 17
‘‘(2) T
YPES OF PHYSICAL PRESENCE .—For 18
purposes of determining physical presence under this 19
section, a claimant shall be considered to have been 20
physically present in an affected area if— 21
‘‘(A) the claimant’s primary residence was 22
in the affected area; 23
‘‘(B) the claimant’s place of employment 24
was in the affected area; or 25
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‘‘(C) the claimant attended school in the 1
affected area. 2
‘‘(g) D
ISEASECONTRACTION IN AFFECTED 3
A
REAS.—For purposes of this section, the Attorney Gen-4
eral shall not determine that a claimant has satisfied the 5
requirements of subsection (a) unless the claimant sub-6
mits— 7
‘‘(1) written medical records or reports created 8
by or at the direction of a licensed medical profes-9
sional, created contemporaneously with the provision 10
of medical care to the claimant, that the claimant, 11
after a period of physical presence in an affected 12
area, contracted a specified disease; or 13
‘‘(2) other documentation determined by the At-14
torney General to demonstrate that the claimant 15
contracted a specified disease after a period of phys-16
ical presence in an affected area.’’. 17
SEC. 103. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than September 30, 19
2025, the Secretary of Energy, acting through the Direc-20
tor of the Office of Legacy Management, shall award to 21
an eligible association a cooperative agreement to support 22
the safeguarding of human and ecological health at the 23
Amchitka, Alaska, Site. 24
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(b) REQUIREMENTS.—A cooperative agreement 1
awarded under subsection (a)— 2
(1) may be used to fund— 3
(A) research and development that will im-4
prove and focus long-term surveillance and 5
monitoring of the site; 6
(B) workforce development at the site; and 7
(C) such other activities as the Secretary 8
considers appropriate; and 9
(2) shall require that the eligible association— 10
(A) engage in stakeholder engagement; and 11
(B) to the greatest extent practicable, in-12
corporate Indigenous knowledge and the partici-13
pation of local Indian Tribes in research and 14
development and workforce development activi-15
ties. 16
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 17
(1) E
LIGIBLE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘eligi-18
ble association’’ means an association of 2 or more 19
of the following: 20
(A) An institution of higher education (as 21
that term is defined in section 101(a) of the 22
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 23
1001(a))) located in the State of Alaska. 24
(B) An agency of the State of Alaska. 25
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(C) A local Indian Tribe. 1
(D) An organization— 2
(i) described in section 501(c)(3) of 3
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and ex-4
empt from taxation under section 501(a) 5
of such Code; and 6
(ii) located in the State of Alaska. 7
(2) L
OCAL INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘local In-8
dian Tribe’’ means an Indian tribe (as that term is 9
defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 10
and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)) 11
that is located in the Aleut Region of the State of 12
Alaska. 13
TITLE II—COMPENSATION FOR 14
WORKERS INVOLVED IN URA-15
NIUM MINING AND INDIVID-16
UALS LIVING DOWNWIND OF 17
ATMOSPHERIC NUCLEAR 18
TESTING 19
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 20
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Radiation Exposure 21
Compensation Act Amendments of 2025’’. 22
SEC. 202. REFERENCES. 23
Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 24
this title an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 25
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of an amendment to or repeal of a section or other provi-1
sion of law, the reference shall be considered to be made 2
to a section or other provision of the Radiation Exposure 3
Compensation Act (Public Law 101–426; 42 U.S.C. 2210 4
note). 5
SEC. 203. EXTENSION OF FUND. 6
Section 3(d) is amended— 7
(1) by striking the first sentence and inserting 8
‘‘The Fund shall terminate 6 years after the date of 9
the enactment of the Radiation Exposure Compensa-10
tion Act Amendments of 2025.’’; and 11
(2) by striking ‘‘2-year’’ and inserting ‘‘6-year’’. 12
SEC. 204. CLAIMS RELATING TO ATMOSPHERIC TESTING. 13
(a) L
EUKEMIACLAIMSRELATING TOTRINITYTEST 14
INNEWMEXICO ANDTESTS AT THENEVADASITE AND 15
IN THEPACIFIC.—Section 4(a)(1)(A) is amended— 16
(1) in clause (i)— 17
(A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘October 18
31, 1958’’ and inserting ‘‘November 6, 1962’’; 19
(B) in subclause (II)— 20
(i) by striking ‘‘in the affected area’’ 21
and inserting ‘‘in an affected area’’; and 22
(ii) by striking ‘‘or’’ after the semi-23
colon; 24
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(C) by redesignating subclause (III) as 1
subclause (V); and 2
(D) by inserting after subclause (II) the 3
following: 4
‘‘(III) was physically present in an af-5
fected area for a period of at least 1 year 6
during the period beginning on September 7
24, 1944, and ending on November 6, 8
1962; 9
‘‘(IV) was physically present in an af-10
fected area— 11
‘‘(aa) for a period of at least 1 12
year during the period beginning on 13
July 1, 1946, and ending on Novem-14
ber 6, 1962; or 15
‘‘(bb) for the period beginning on 16
April 25, 1962, and ending on No-17
vember 6, 1962; or’’; and 18
(2) in clause (ii)(I), by striking ‘‘physical pres-19
ence described in subclause (I) or (II) of clause (i) 20
or onsite participation described in clause (i)(III)’’ 21
and inserting ‘‘physical presence described in sub-22
clause (I), (II), (III), or (IV) of clause (i) or onsite 23
participation described in clause (i)(V)’’. 24
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(b) AMOUNTS FOR CLAIMSRELATED TO LEU-1
KEMIA.—Section 4(a)(1) is amended— 2
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘an 3
amount’’ and inserting ‘‘the amount’’; and 4
(2) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting 5
the following: 6
‘‘(B) A
MOUNT.—If the conditions de-7
scribed in subparagraph (C) are met, an indi-8
vidual who is described in subparagraph (A) 9
shall receive $100,000.’’. 10
(c) C
ONDITIONS FOR CLAIMSRELATED TO LEU-11
KEMIA.—Section 4(a)(1)(C) is amended— 12
(1) by striking clause (i); and 13
(2) by redesignating clauses (ii) and (iii) as 14
clauses (i) and (ii), respectively. 15
(d) S
PECIFIEDDISEASESCLAIMSRELATING TO 16
T
RINITYTEST INNEWMEXICO ANDTESTS AT THENE-17
VADASITE AND IN THE PACIFIC.—Section 4(a)(2) is 18
amended— 19
(1) in subparagraph (A)— 20
(A) by striking ‘‘in the affected area’’ and 21
inserting ‘‘in an affected area’’; 22
(B) by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and inserting ‘‘1 23
year’’; and 24
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(C) by striking ‘‘October 31, 1958’’ and 1
inserting ‘‘November 6, 1962’’; 2
(2) in subparagraph (B)— 3
(A) by striking ‘‘in the affected area’’ and 4
inserting ‘‘in an affected area’’; and 5
(B) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 6
(3) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub-7
paragraph (E); and 8
(4) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘(C) was physically present in an affected 11
area for a period of at least 1 year during the 12
period beginning on September 24, 1944, and 13
ending on November 6, 1962; 14
‘‘(D) was physically present in an affected 15
area— 16
‘‘(i) for a period of at least 1 year 17
during the period beginning on July 1, 18
1946, and ending on November 6, 1962; or 19
‘‘(ii) for the period beginning on April 20
25, 1962, and ending on November 6, 21
1962; or’’. 22
(e) A
MOUNTS FORCLAIMSRELATED TOSPECIFIED 23
D
ISEASES.—Section 4(a)(2) is amended in the matter fol-24
lowing subparagraph (E) (as redesignated by subsection 25
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(d) of this section) by striking ‘‘$50,000 (in the case of 1
an individual described in subparagraph (A) or (B)) or 2
$75,000 (in the case of an individual described in subpara-3
graph (C)),’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’. 4
(f) D
OWNWINDSTATES.—Section 4(b)(1) is amended 5
to read as follows: 6
‘‘(1) ‘affected area’ means— 7
‘‘(A) except as provided under subpara-8
graphs (B) and (C), Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, 9
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and 10
Guam; 11
‘‘(B) with respect to a claim by an indi-12
vidual under subsection (a)(1)(A)(i)(III) or sub-13
section (a)(2)(C), only New Mexico; and 14
‘‘(C) with respect to a claim by an indi-15
vidual under subsection (a)(1)(A)(i)(IV) or sub-16
section (a)(2)(D), only Guam.’’. 17
(g) C
HRONICLYMPHOCYTICLEUKEMIA AS ASPECI-18
FIEDDISEASE.—Section 4(b)(2) is amended by striking 19
‘‘other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia’’ and inserting 20
‘‘including chronic lymphocytic leukemia’’. 21
SEC. 205. CLAIMS RELATING TO URANIUM MINING. 22
(a) E
MPLOYEES OF MINES ANDMILLS.—Section 23
5(a)(1)(A)(i) is amended— 24
(1) by inserting ‘‘(I)’’ after ‘‘(i)’’; 25
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(2) by striking ‘‘December 31, 1971; and’’ and 1
inserting ‘‘December 31, 1990; or’’; and 2
(3) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(II) was employed as a core driller in 4
a State referred to in subclause (I) during 5
the period described in such subclause; 6
and’’. 7
(b) M
INERS.—Section 5(a)(1)(A)(ii)(I) is amended 8
by inserting ‘‘or renal cancer or any other chronic renal 9
disease, including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue in-10
jury’’ after ‘‘nonmalignant respiratory disease’’. 11
(c) M
ILLERS, COREDRILLERS, ANDORETRANS-12
PORTERS.—Section 5(a)(1)(A)(ii)(II) is amended— 13
(1) by inserting ‘‘, core driller,’’ after ‘‘was a 14
miller’’; 15
(2) by inserting ‘‘, or was involved in remedi-16
ation efforts at such a uranium mine or uranium 17
mill,’’ after ‘‘ore transporter’’; 18
(3) by inserting ‘‘(I)’’ after ‘‘clause (i)’’; and 19
(4) by striking all that follows ‘‘nonmalignant 20
respiratory disease’’ and inserting ‘‘or renal cancer 21
or any other chronic renal disease, including nephri-22
tis and kidney tubal tissue injury; or’’. 23
(d) C
OMBINED WORK HISTORIES.—Section 24
5(a)(1)(A)(ii) is further amended— 25
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(1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subclause (I); 1
and 2
(2) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(III)(aa) does not meet the condi-4
tions of subclause (I) or (II); 5
‘‘(bb) worked, during the period de-6
scribed in clause (i)(I), in two or more of 7
the following positions: miner, miller, core 8
driller, and ore transporter; 9
‘‘(cc) meets the requirements of para-10
graph (4) or (5), or both; and 11
‘‘(dd) submits written medical docu-12
mentation that the individual developed 13
lung cancer or a nonmalignant respiratory 14
disease or renal cancer or any other chron-15
ic renal disease, including nephritis and 16
kidney tubal tissue injury after exposure to 17
radiation through work in one or more of 18
the positions referred to in item (bb);’’. 19
(e) D
ATES OFOPERATION OFURANIUMMINE.—Sec-20
tion 5(a)(2)(A) is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 21
1971’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 1990’’. 22
(f) S
PECIALRULESRELATING TOCOMBINEDWORK 23
H
ISTORIES.—Section 5(a) is amended by adding at the 24
end the following: 25
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‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE RELATING TO COMBINED 1
WORK HISTORIES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH AT LEAST 2
ONE YEAR OF EXPERIENCE .—An individual meets 3
the requirements of this paragraph if the individual 4
worked in one or more of the positions referred to 5
in paragraph (1)(A)(ii)(III)(bb) for a period of at 6
least one year during the period described in para-7
graph (1)(A)(i)(I). 8
‘‘(5) S
PECIAL RULE RELATING TO COMBINED 9
WORK HISTORIES FOR MINERS .—An individual 10
meets the requirements of this paragraph if the indi-11
vidual, during the period described in paragraph 12
(1)(A)(i)(I), worked as a miner and was exposed to 13
such number of working level months that the Attor-14
ney General determines, when combined with the ex-15
posure of such individual to radiation through work 16
as a miller, core driller, or ore transporter during 17
the period described in paragraph (1)(A)(i)(I), re-18
sults in such individual being exposed to a total level 19
of radiation that is greater or equal to the level of 20
exposure of an individual described in paragraph 21
(4).’’. 22
(g) D
EFINITION OFCOREDRILLER.—Section 5(b) is 23
amended— 24
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(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 1
(7); 2
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-3
graph (8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4
(3) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(9) the term ‘core driller’ means any indi-6
vidual employed to engage in the act or process of 7
obtaining cylindrical rock samples of uranium or va-8
nadium by means of a borehole drilling machine for 9
the purpose of mining uranium or vanadium.’’. 10
SEC. 206. EXPANSION OF USE OF AFFIDAVITS IN DETER-11
MINATION OF CLAIMS; REGULATIONS. 12
(a) A
FFIDAVITS.—Section 6(b) is amended by adding 13
at the end the following: 14
‘‘(3) A
FFIDAVITS.— 15
‘‘(A) E
MPLOYMENT HISTORY .—For pur-16
poses of this Act, the Attorney General shall ac-17
cept a written affidavit or declaration as evi-18
dence to substantiate the employment history of 19
an individual as a miner, miller, core driller, or 20
ore transporter if the affidavit— 21
‘‘(i) is provided in addition to other 22
material that may be used to substantiate 23
the employment history of the individual; 24
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‘‘(ii) attests to the employment history 1
of the individual; 2
‘‘(iii) is made subject to penalty for 3
perjury; and 4
‘‘(iv) is made by a person other than 5
the individual filing the claim. 6
‘‘(B) P
HYSICAL PRESENCE IN AFFECTED 7
AREA.—For purposes of this Act, the Attorney 8
General shall accept a written affidavit or dec-9
laration as evidence to substantiate an individ-10
ual’s physical presence in an affected area (as 11
defined in section 4(b)(1)) during a period de-12
scribed in section 4(a)(1)(A)(i) or section 13
4(a)(2) if the affidavit— 14
‘‘(i) is provided in addition to other 15
material that may be used to substantiate 16
the individual’s presence in an affected 17
area during that time period; 18
‘‘(ii) attests to the individual’s pres-19
ence in an affected area during that pe-20
riod; 21
‘‘(iii) is made subject to penalty for 22
perjury; and 23
‘‘(iv) is made by a person other than 24
the individual filing the claim. 25
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‘‘(C) PARTICIPATION AT TESTING SITE .— 1
For purposes of this Act, the Attorney General 2
shall accept a written affidavit or declaration as 3
evidence to substantiate an individual’s partici-4
pation onsite in a test involving the atmospheric 5
detonation of a nuclear device if the affidavit— 6
‘‘(i) is provided in addition to other 7
material that may be used to substantiate 8
the individual’s participation onsite in a 9
test involving the atmospheric detonation 10
of a nuclear device; 11
‘‘(ii) attests to the individual’s partici-12
pation onsite in a test involving the atmos-13
pheric detonation of a nuclear device; 14
‘‘(iii) is made subject to penalty for 15
perjury; and 16
‘‘(iv) is made by a person other than 17
the individual filing the claim.’’. 18
(b) T
ECHNICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 19
Section 6 is amended— 20
(1) in subsection (b)(2)(C), by striking ‘‘section 21
4(a)(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 4(a)(2)(E)’’; 22
(2) in subsection (c)(2)— 23
(A) in subparagraph (A)— 24
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(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 1
by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), 2
or (a)(2)(B) of section 4’’ and inserting 3
‘‘subsection (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(2)(B), 4
(a)(2)(C), or (a)(2)(D) of section 4’’; and 5
(ii) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘sub-6
section (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), or (a)(2)(B) of 7
section 4’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 8
(a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(2)(B), (a)(2)(C), or 9
(a)(2)(D) of section 4’’; and 10
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘sec-11
tion 4(a)(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 12
4(a)(2)(E)’’; and 13
(3) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘subsection 14
(a)(1), (a)(2)(A), or (a)(2)(B) of section 4’’ and in-15
serting ‘‘subsection (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(2)(B), 16
(a)(2)(C), or (a)(2)(D) of section 4’’. 17
(c) R
EGULATIONS.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 6(k) is amended by 19
adding at the end the following: ‘‘Not later than 180 20
days after the date of enactment of the Radiation 21
Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2025, 22
the Attorney General shall issue revised regulations 23
to carry out this Act.’’. 24
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(2) CONSIDERATIONS IN REVISIONS .—In 1
issuing revised regulations under section 6(k) of the 2
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public Law 3
101–426; 42 U.S.C. 2210 note), as amended under 4
paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall ensure 5
that procedures with respect to the submission and 6
processing of claims under such Act take into ac-7
count and make allowances for the law, tradition, 8
and customs of Indian tribes, including by accepting 9
as a record of proof of physical presence for a claim-10
ant a grazing permit, a homesite lease, a record of 11
being a holder of a post office box, a letter from an 12
elected leader of an Indian tribe, or a record of any 13
recognized tribal association or organization. 14
SEC. 207. LIMITATION ON CLAIMS. 15
(a) E
XTENSION OFFILINGTIME.—Section 8(a) is 16
amended— 17
(1) by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and inserting ‘‘5 18
years’’; and 19
(2) by striking ‘‘RECA Extension Act of 2022’’ 20
and inserting ‘‘Radiation Exposure Compensation 21
Act Amendments of 2025’’. 22
(b) R
ESUBMITTAL OF CLAIMS.—Section 8(b) is 23
amended to read as follows: 24
‘‘(b) R
ESUBMITTAL OFCLAIMS.— 25
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‘‘(1) DENIED CLAIMS.—After the date of enact-1
ment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 2
Amendments of 2025, any claimant who has been 3
denied compensation under this Act may resubmit a 4
claim for consideration by the Attorney General in 5
accordance with this Act not more than three times. 6
Any resubmittal made before the date of the enact-7
ment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 8
Amendments of 2025 shall not be applied to the lim-9
itation under the preceding sentence. 10
‘‘(2) P
REVIOUSLY SUCCESSFUL CLAIMS .— 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—After the date of en-12
actment of the Radiation Exposure Compensa-13
tion Act Amendments of 2025, any claimant 14
who received compensation under this Act may 15
submit a request to the Attorney General for 16
additional compensation and benefits. Such re-17
quest shall contain— 18
‘‘(i) the claimant’s name, social secu-19
rity number, and date of birth; 20
‘‘(ii) the amount of award received 21
under this Act before the date of enact-22
ment of the Radiation Exposure Com-23
pensation Act Amendments of 2025; 24
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‘‘(iii) any additional benefits and com-1
pensation sought through such request; 2
and 3
‘‘(iv) any additional information re-4
quired by the Attorney General. 5
‘‘(B) A
DDITIONAL COMPENSATION .—If the 6
claimant received compensation under this Act 7
before the date of enactment of the Radiation 8
Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 9
2025 and submits a request under subpara-10
graph (A), the Attorney General shall— 11
‘‘(i) pay the claimant the amount that 12
is equal to any excess of— 13
‘‘(I) the amount the claimant is 14
eligible to receive under this Act (as 15
amended by the Radiation Exposure 16
Compensation Act Amendments of 17
2025); minus 18
‘‘(II) the aggregate amount paid 19
to the claimant under this Act before 20
the date of enactment of the Radi-21
ation Exposure Compensation Act 22
Amendments of 2025; and 23
‘‘(ii) in any case in which the claimant 24
was compensated under section 4, provide 25
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the claimant with medical benefits under 1
section 4(a)(5).’’. 2
SEC. 208. GRANT PROGRAM ON EPIDEMIOLOGICAL IM-3
PACTS OF URANIUM MINING AND MILLING. 4
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 5
(1) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 6
has the meaning given under section 101 of the 7
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001); 8
(2) the term ‘‘program’’ means the grant pro-9
gram established under subsection (b); and 10
(3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 11
of Health and Human Services. 12
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 13
a grant program relating to the epidemiological impacts 14
of uranium mining and milling. Grants awarded under the 15
program shall be used for the study of the epidemiological 16
impacts of uranium mining and milling among non-occu-17
pationally exposed individuals, including family members 18
of uranium miners and millers. 19
(c) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall admin-20
ister the program through the National Institute of Envi-21
ronmental Health Sciences. 22
(d) E
LIGIBILITY ANDAPPLICATION.—Any institution 23
of higher education or nonprofit private entity shall be eli-24
gible to apply for a grant. To apply for a grant an eligible 25
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institution or entity shall submit to the Secretary an appli-1
cation at such time, in such manner, and containing or 2
accompanied by such information as the Secretary may 3
reasonably require. 4
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 5
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 6
$3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2027. 7
SEC. 209. ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS 8
COMPENSATION PROGRAM. 9
(a) C
OVEREDEMPLOYEESWITHCANCER.—Section 10
3621(9) of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 11
Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384l(9)) 12
is amended by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting 13
the following: 14
‘‘(A) An individual with a specified cancer 15
who is a member of the Special Exposure Co-16
hort, if and only if— 17
‘‘(i) that individual contracted that 18
specified cancer after beginning employ-19
ment at a Department of Energy facility 20
(in the case of a Department of Energy 21
employee or Department of Energy con-22
tractor employee) or at an atomic weapons 23
employer facility (in the case of an atomic 24
weapons employee); or 25
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‘‘(ii) that individual— 1
‘‘(I) contracted that specified 2
cancer after beginning employment in 3
a uranium mine or uranium mill de-4
scribed under section 5(a)(1)(A)(i) of 5
the Radiation Exposure Compensation 6
Act (42 U.S.C. 2210 note) (including 7
any individual who was employed in 8
core drilling or the transport of ura-9
nium ore or vanadium-uranium ore 10
from such mine or mill) located in 11
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyo-12
ming, South Dakota, Washington, 13
Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, 14
Texas, or any State the Attorney Gen-15
eral makes a determination under sec-16
tion 5(a)(2) of that Act for inclusion 17
of eligibility under section 5(a)(1) of 18
that Act; and 19
‘‘(II) was employed in a uranium 20
mine or uranium mill described under 21
subclause (I) (including any individual 22
who was employed in core drilling or 23
the transport of uranium ore or vana-24
dium-uranium ore from such mine or 25
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mill) at any time during the period 1
beginning on January 1, 1942, and 2
ending on December 31, 1990.’’. 3
(b) M
EMBERS OFSPECIALEXPOSURECOHORT.— 4
Section 3626 of the Energy Employees Occupational Ill-5
ness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 6
7384q) is amended— 7
(1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (1) 8
and inserting the following: 9
‘‘(1) The Advisory Board on Radiation and 10
Worker Health under section 3624 shall advise the 11
President whether there is a class of employees— 12
‘‘(A) at any Department of Energy facility 13
who likely were exposed to radiation at that fa-14
cility but for whom it is not feasible to estimate 15
with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose they 16
received; and 17
‘‘(B) employed in a uranium mine or ura-18
nium mill described under section 5(a)(1)(A)(i) 19
of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 20
(42 U.S.C. 2210 note) (including any individual 21
who was employed in core drilling or the trans-22
port of uranium ore or vanadium-uranium ore 23
from such mine or mill) located in Colorado, 24
New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, 25
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Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Or-1
egon, Texas, and any State the Attorney Gen-2
eral makes a determination under section 3
5(a)(2) of that Act for inclusion of eligibility 4
under section 5(a)(1) of that Act, at any time 5
during the period beginning on January 1, 6
1942, and ending on December 31, 1990, who 7
likely were exposed to radiation at that mine or 8
mill but for whom it is not feasible to estimate 9
with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose they 10
received.’’; and 11
(2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 12
following: 13
‘‘(b) D
ESIGNATION OFADDITIONALMEMBERS.— 14
‘‘(1) Subject to the provisions of section 15
3621(14)(C), the members of a class of employees at 16
a Department of Energy facility, or at an atomic 17
weapons employer facility, may be treated as mem-18
bers of the Special Exposure Cohort for purposes of 19
the compensation program if the President, upon 20
recommendation of the Advisory Board on Radiation 21
and Worker Health, determines that— 22
‘‘(A) it is not feasible to estimate with suf-23
ficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 24
class received; and 25
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‘‘(B) there is a reasonable likelihood that 1
such radiation dose may have endangered the 2
health of members of the class. 3
‘‘(2) Subject to the provisions of section 4
3621(14)(C), the members of a class of employees 5
employed in a uranium mine or uranium mill de-6
scribed under section 5(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Radiation 7
Exposure Compensation Act (42 U.S.C. 2210 note) 8
(including any individual who was employed in core 9
drilling or the transport of uranium ore or vana-10
dium-uranium ore from such mine or mill) located in 11
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South 12
Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, 13
Oregon, Texas, and any State the Attorney General 14
makes a determination under section 5(a)(2) of that 15
Act for inclusion of eligibility under section 5(a)(1) 16
of that Act, at any time during the period beginning 17
on January 1, 1942, and ending on December 31, 18
1990, may be treated as members of the Special Ex-19
posure Cohort for purposes of the compensation pro-20
gram if the President, upon recommendation of the 21
Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, 22
determines that— 23
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‘‘(A) it is not feasible to estimate with suf-1
ficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 2
class received; and 3
‘‘(B) there is a reasonable likelihood that 4
such radiation dose may have endangered the 5
health of members of the class.’’. 6
SEC. 210. GAO STUDY AND REPORT. 7
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 8
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 9
shall conduct, and submit to Congress a report describing 10
the results of, a study on the importance of, and need for, 11
unmet medical benefits coverage for individuals who were 12
exposed to radiation in atmospheric nuclear tests con-13
ducted by the Federal Government, and recommendations 14
to provide such unmet medical benefits coverage for such 15
individuals. 16
Æ
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