U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, is renewing his push to provide compensation for radiation victims in the St. Louis area and other parts of the country.
Hawley’s original bill that would have extended the life span of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act passed the U.S. Senate twice this year but died in the House over complaints that it would cost too much money. It would have also extended payments to victims in Missouri and other states — where workers were exposed to uranium, either through mining work or above-ground nuclear testing.
“This country’s success in the second world war and in the Cold War was driven by our nuclear program. […] It was made possible by the work and the sacrifices of everyday Americans in states like New Mexico and Arizona, and, yes, my home state of Missouri where we processed uranium for the government,”
The law was passed in 1990 but expired three months ago.
St. Louis was the site of atomic bomb production during World War II, and radioactive waste later leaked into Coldwater Creek from a storage site in St. Louis County.
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