Former Federal Uranium Workers May Be Compensated For Radiation-Related Illness

Former federal uranium workers in western Colorado could be eligible for compensation if they suffer from radiation-related illnesses. The U.S. Labor Department has added workers to a special group eligible for payments. 

That makes some people who worked at the old Atomic Energy Commission in Grand Junction between 1975 and ’85 eligible receive compensation if they were affected by radiation. But they have to have at least one of 22 cancers specified under the federal law that created the compensation program in 2000. 

Affected workers can get as much as $400,000. Surviving family members can receive up to $325,000.