January 29, 2000
Web posted at: 7:46 p.m. EST (0046 GMT)

In this story: 'They weren't told the truth' Study lists sites of possible exposure RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For the first time, the federal government has acknowledged that workers in U.S. nuclear weapons facilities were exposed on the job to radiation that may be linked to cancer and other ailments.

"Yes, there were exposures," Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said on Saturday in an interview with CNN.

VIDEO CNN's Jonathan Aiken reports on preliminary findings that higher incidences of 22 different kinds of cancer have been found in workers at 14 different U.S. nuclear weapons facilities. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

Richardson made the acknowledgment after receiving a preliminary report on the effects of radiation and cancer- causing chemicals on workers that was prepared by the Department of Energy and the White House.

The acknowledgment represents a fundamental change in DOE policy.

"Our policy used to be, 'There is no link,'" Richardson said. "If you got sick, it was because of something else." Workers, Richardson said, "... weren't actively lied to, but they were not informed of potential exposures, so it's not a direct lie, but it could be they were not leveled with."

Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pennsylvania, said, "This is stepping up and taking responsibility for governmental activity -- albeit in many instances in ignorance -- that injured American working men and women."

'They weren't told the truth'

The acknowledgment raises the possibility that the government might eventually compensate radiation victims or their survivors.

Richardson predicted the number of people who possibly could qualify for compensation would be in the "low thousands," adding that they could receive "in the low hundred millions" in compensation.

"I don't think we should look at the cost," Richardson said. "I think, as a nation, we should look at the dignity of these workers, the protection of these workers. They weren't told the truth. If we find they were harmed by exposures ... I think it is the duty of the government ... to take care of these workers."

Richardson: 'Yes, there were exposures' ( 220 K/23 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

Study lists sites of possible exposure

The preliminary study cited higher-than-normal incidences of 22 kinds of cancer, including leukemia; Hodgkin's lymphoma; and prostate, kidney, and lung cancer among 600,000 workers at 14 nuclear weapons plants.

Among the plants cited were Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee; Savannah River in South Carolina; Hanford in Washington; Rocky Flats in Arvada, Colorado; Fernald Feed Materials Center near Cincinnati; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California; and Los Alamos National Laboratory, in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The study, which is to be completed next month, was commissioned by President Clinton last July, when another study showed that workers in plants where the material beryllium was used were at increased risk of developing beryllium disease, an incurable lung ailment.

Clinton then ordered the DOE to look into whether workers in U.S. Defense plants may also have been exposed to radiation linked to other diseases.

Correspondent Jonathan Aiken, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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