Compensation for uranium workers OK'd: U.S. House gives strong support.

The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday that includes compensation for workers who were exposed to uranium and other dangerous materials while working on secret government contracts during the Cold War.

   The compensation package would affect former workers at the former Blockson Chemical Co. just south of Joliet, the William E. Pratt Co., formerly at Cass and Henderson streets, where workers ground uranium rods for nuclear fuel in the 1940s, and at the University of Chicago, and later Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont, where workers were exposed to the dangerous metal beryllium.

   A recent USA Today investigation found that dozens of workers at the Blockson company, which was purchased by Olin in 1955, were exposed to uranium dust while extracting uranium from phosphorus for government nuclear weapons from 1952 to 1962. Long-term exposure can cause health problems later in life, such as more than half a dozen types of cancers.

   The compensation package includes a provision that workers affected by the uranium receive a lump sum of $150,000 as well as lifetime medical benefits. Family members would be eligible for the lump sum only if the worker has already died.

   The legislation provides $275 million be set aside next year in a trust fund for the compensation. The total cost of the program is more than $1 billion and is not subject to yearly budget cuts, said U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Morris.

   The package is part of a Defense Authorization Bill that was held up as House leaders, including Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Yorkville, who were concerned about the amount that could be spent on the compensation. A bill approved earlier by the Senate was similar but would have provided $200,000 in compensation. The amount was reduced as part of a compromise between House and Senate leaders last week.

   The Senate is expected to approve the defense bill, and the compensation package, as early as today. They hope to adjourn Saturday until after the presidential inauguration in January.

   President Clinton also is expected to sign the bill, but Weller aide Ben Fallon said the U.S. Department of Energy still will have to set up the guidelines for workers or their survivors to file claims.

   For now, he said the best thing for the workers and their families to do is to gather whatever documents they can relative to employment and working with uranium and call the Department of Energy hotline at (866) 888-3322. A recorded message asks callers to leave information, and a DOE representative will return their calls within two business days.