Affected workers: Officials to explain compensation process

   JOLIET — The U.S. Department of Energy will hold a meeting April 18 to explain the compensation procedure for workers and/or family members affected by Cold War-era government work with radioactive materials.

   The meeting will be at 2 p.m. in the auditorium of The Herald-News, 300 Caterpillar Drive, Joliet. U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Morris, will be the host, and the main speaker will be Kate Kimpan, deputy director of the Office of Worker Advocacy for the U.S. Department of Energy.

   The compensation package would cover former employees of the Blockson/Olin plant south of Joliet; the William E. Pratt Co., formerly at Cass and Henderson streets in Joliet; and some 2,300 people at the University of Chicago, and later Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont, who worked with the dangerous metal beryllium during atomic bomb research in the 1940s.

   Kimpan will brief victims and their families about the current status of the DOE program and the claims process. The process is moving quickly because the compensation procedure has to be in place by July 31, said Judy Keating, executive director of a presidential advisory committee set up to oversee the compensation package.

   President Clinton in December signed an executive order expediting a compensation package already approved by Congress in the fall. That package provided a lump-sum payment of $150,000 to the workers or their survivors, as well as medical benefits for the former workers. New legislation proposed a month later by then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and former Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman would give workers a choice of the lump-sum $150,000 payment or compensation for lost wages due to illness. Both sets of legislation include the payment of medical expenses.

   The proposed amendments also include an appeals process. If the amendments are approved by Congress, workers dissatisfied with their compensation package or turned down outright would be able to appeal the decision. Weller noted that the current compensation package and the proposed amendments cover only those employees who worked at the plants during the times of the government contracts.

   Dozens of workers at the now-closed Blockson Chemical plant, later Olin, at Patterson near Brandon roads, were exposed to uranium they extracted under a secret government weapons contract from 1952 to 1962. Workers at the former Pratt company were involved in grinding uranium rods for nuclear fuel.

   Scores of workers at Argonne and Blockson/Olin believed for years their cancers and other physical ailments were caused by their exposure to the radioactive materials. But it wasn't until early last year that the federal government admitted that more than 10,000 workers at some 200 private companies nationwide would have been exposed unknowingly as the companies had secret contracts with the government.

   Weller noted that the former employees or their survivors need only show that they or their loved ones worked at the plants during the times of the government contracts. It will be the burden of the government to show that the cancers and other diseases the victims suffered could not be traced to their secret government work.

   The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will develop guidelines for the Department of Labor to determine whether a cancer is likely to be related to a worker's occupational exposure to radiation.

   Guidelines also will be set to establish methods to estimate worker exposure to radiation and to develop estimates for those who have applied for compensation.

   Keating said DOE will set up field offices to handle claims, but they haven't decided the exact locations. Another DOE spokesman said that one office would likely be set up fairly close to Argonne because of the large number of former employees affected there.

   Kimpan will give out information on the process, but won't take any claims, Keating said. The forms haven't even been printed yet, she added. But the compensation package has generated a lot of interest since it was first proposed last fall.

   "We've had 20,000 calls (nationwide) to our hotline," she said. That number is (877) 447-9756.

   Weller said those interested could also call his Joliet office at (815) 740-2028 to register for the claim or for more information on the April 18 information session at The Herald News. U.S. Rep Judy Biggert, R-Hinsdale, said constituents, especially those affected by the beryllium contamination, could call her office at (630) 655-2052.

   Those interested also can call up the DOE Web site at [WEB SITE]. The Herald News also has a link on its Web site that lists past stories and pictures dealing with the uranium/beryllium contamination. That address is:
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/ heraldnews/focus/

   The issue was originally brought to light by a series of USA Today articles released last fall. Assistant City Editor Nick Reiher can be reached at (815) 729-6050 or via e-mail at nreiher@scn1.com.

04/03/01