WASHINGTON (AP) - The government identified the hundreds of mills, foundries and factories that did nuclear weapons work during the Cold War in a step yesterday toward identifying workers who might qualify for compensation because they were made sick by their jobs.

The Energy Department examined records going back 60 years in an effort to document every facility that handled the deadly metal beryllium or radioactive materials.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson urged sick workers who were employed at the facilities to contact the government.

"The burden of proof is on the government, not the worker. We will be open and candid this time, not like in the past," he said.

The list includes 317 sites that employed 600,000 people in 37 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Marshall Islands. Some were government-owned, but most were private companies working for the Energy Department or the Atomic Energy Commission.

Under a program approved by Congress last year, employees of facilities doing Energy Department work who contracted cancer as a result of radiation exposure, as well as those who contracted a lung disease from beryllium or silica, can receive government-paid medical care plus $150,000. The first checks are expected to go out later this year.

Still to be decided is how the compensation program will determine which people from such sites got sick because of work done for the government.

Richard Miller, a workers' advocate from Holyoke, Mass, said "There are places where the DOE had no contract for, for instance, beryllium after a certain date or a mill didn't roll uranium after a certain date, but the buildings remained contaminated."

The Energy Department's toll-free number for workers seeking information is 1-877-447-9756.

List of facilities

The Energy Department's list of facilities that handled beryllium or radioactive materials for the government during the Cold War includes the following facilities. Some facilities were managed by the Energy Department but were not involved in nuclear weapons production.

Tennessee

- Clarksville Facility, Clarksville
- Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25), Oak Ridge
- Oak Ridge Hospital, Oak Ridge
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education, Oak Ridge
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (X-10), Oak Ridge
- Vitro Corporation of America, Chattanooga
- W. R. Grace, Erwin
- Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge

Kentucky

- The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Paducah
 

Alabama

- Southern Research Institute, Sylacauga
- Speed Ring Experimental & Tool Co., Cullman
- Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals