Help Available for Former Nuclear Workers

Former nuclear weapons workers in southwestern Pennsylvania who are now suffering from cancer may be able to get help paying their medical bills. Workers with the U.S. Department of Labor will be at the Springhill Suites Washington tomorrow and Thursday to help those workers apply for federal benefits.

Former employees of Vitro Manufacturing in Canonsburg and Westinghouse Atomic Power Development Plant in East Pittsburgh were recently added to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act's Special Exposure Cohort. That means workers who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry are eligible for compensation and medical benefits.

The benefits are available to atomic weapons employees of Vitro between August 13, 1942 and December 31, 1957. Former Westinghouse employees are eligible if they worked between August 13, 1942 and December 31, 1944. Catherine Buttolph of the U.S. Department of Labor says if employees are dead, then survivors would be eligible for the compensation award which totals $150,000.

Workers who are unable to make it to the Traveling Resource Center in Washington County this week can apply for the benefits by calling 1-800-941-3943.