This bill expands compensation for uranium miners and workers who were exposed to radiation while working in uranium mines, mills, or transporting uranium ore between 1942 and 1978. The bill makes it easier for these workers to qualify for payments by broadening who can apply and what illnesses qualify for compensation.

To be eligible, workers need to show they either worked in uranium mining or milling operations in specific western states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, or other states the Attorney General approves) for at least one year during that time period, and developed certain health conditions afterward. The qualifying illnesses include lung cancer, kidney cancer, and various respiratory and kidney diseases. Miners who were exposed to high levels of radiation (40 or more working level months) automatically qualify if they developed these conditions, while millers and ore transporters need to show at least one year of work and medical proof of illness.

The bill provides $475 million in funding to pay these claims, using money that was originally allocated for coronavirus relief efforts. The government has four years from when this bill becomes law to process and pay out these claims, extending the deadline from the previous two-year timeline. This is meant to help aging uranium workers and their families receive compensation for health problems caused by their occupational radiation exposure during the Cold War era when uranium mining was critical to the nation's nuclear weapons program.

Uranium Miners and Workers Act of 2023

Lummis, Cynthia M.

Uranium Miners and Workers Act of 2023 This bill extends and expands eligibility for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program. This program compensates individuals who were exposed to radiation while employed in uranium mining operations and subsequently developed qualifying medical conditions. Specifically, the bill extends the fund that supports the program for the four years following the enactment of the bill. (The fund currently terminates on June 7, 2024.) It also transfers to the fund a specified amount of unobligated funding appropriated for the COVID-19 response. In addition, the bill expands eligibility for the program in multiple ways. Current law limits eligibility to individuals who were employed between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1971, as uranium miners, millers, or ore transporters. The bill expands the program by (1) making those employed through December 31, 1978, and those employed as core drillers eligible; and (2) providing compensation for kidney cancers and other chronic kidney diseases to all individuals eligible for the program.