One division of the former Westinghouse Government Services Co. in Cheswick has been added to the list of eligible sites for a federal entitlement program that compensates nuclear workers who developed cancer and other diseases due to radiation exposure.
But the fight to obtain more inclusive recompense for these workers could lead from the lower Valley all the way to Congress, and it is just beginning.
The Energy Employees' Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, or EEOICP, entitles former nuclear workers to a lump-sum payment of $150,000 and medical benefits if they developed cancer or certain other diseases in the production of nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
Under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Labor, the act also provides benefits to the survivors of deceased nuclear workers.
Until recently, the Westinghouse site in Cheswick wasn't listed as an eligible site under the EEOICP, even though it contributed to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion , Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) and the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR) programs.
With pressure from a group of former employees, however, the Department of Labor opted last month to include the now-defunct Nuclear Fuels Division in Cheswick for workers employed there from 1971 to 1972.
The Department of Labor contends that workers employed in the Nuclear Fuels Division during this period qualify for EEOICP compensation because the site received shipments of enriched uranium and plutonium from the Atomic Energy Commission's nuclear weapons complex.
But other Westinghouse divisions that made nuclear propulsion systems for spacecraft and submarines are still excluded from the list because work there wasn't related directly to nuclear weapons production, said New Kensington attorney Philip McCalister, who is representing a group of former Cheswick employees.
"I believe it's an arbitrary exclusion," McCalister said. "The people who worked on the warheads made no greater sacrifice and were exposed to the same dangers as the people who worked on the delivery systems for the warheads. The only difference is which end of the rocket they were involved in."
Toge Clark, 72, of Lower Burrell has been spearheading the grassroots campaign to get his former employer included on the EEOICP list. Clark is a colon cancer survivor who worked at Westinghouse from 1957 to 1990, retiring as a manager of operations in the plant's electromechanical division.
At least 125 other employees from the Cheswick site have since developed cancer or other illnesses, likely due to their exposure to radiation, according to Clark.
"We used to shower at the end of the day, but not before we ate lunch," Clark said. "None of us knew what the hazards were compared to what people know now about radiation."
Cheswick Councilman Dom Pizoli worked at the Westinghouse plant for 38 years. Pizoli was diagnosed with leukemia eight years ago and spent almost 150 days in the hospital after undergoing a bone marrow transplant.
"Some people had to wear monitors," said Pizoli, who is now in remission. "I didn't ever have to do that. But as a tool cutter and grinder, I still got their tools to sharpen."
Clark and Pizoli are part of a group of Cheswick employees who have been meeting every Friday at the New Kensington Elks club to organize efforts to get EEOICP compensation. They don't agree with the time and place restrictions the federal government has placed on Westinghouse's Cheswick site.
"They are saying that the Nuclear Fuels Division was the only division that received the material in 1971 and '72," Pizoli said. "We all know that stuff doesn't go away in two years. It lingers."
McCalister is helping these former nuclear workers fight for full inclusion on the EEOICP list.
"These citizens gave their health, and in many instances, their lives, for national security," said McCalister, who plans to lobby Congress to eliminate the distinction the acts makes between nuclear warheads and nuclear weapons delivery systems.
He is seeking the support of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, and U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods, and plans to hold a meeting on Feb. 9 to assess how many workers might be eligible for compensation.
As many as 600 former Cheswick employees and families in the Alle-Kiski Valley could qualify, McCalister said.
Murtha has requested a meeting with the Department of Energy, which also administers the EEOICP, about why the department has limited its coverage to people who worked at the Westinghouse's Cheswick plant in 1971 and 1972.
"DOE says most of the work was on nuclear fuels and reactors, not on nuclear weapons," Murtha said. "But this work was just as critical to the nation's defense."
Murtha also said he has been told that the Cheswick facility did a lot of the same work as the former NUMEC nuclear fuels plants in Apollo and Parks, and that people were traveling back and forth between the facilities because their work was connected.
"If the NUMEC workers are covered from the 1950s into the 1970s, why isn't Cheswick?" Murtha said. "I hope we can expand the coverage beyond what's been granted so far because a number of workers there are facing serious health problems that seem clearly to be linked to the work they did in support of our nation's defense."
| Find out more |
Former workers or the families of deceased workers at the Nuclear Fuels Division of Westinghouse Government Services Co. in Cheswick from 1971 to 1972 can apply for compensation and medical benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act. Workers must have or had cancer and other illnesses covered by the act,.
For more information, contact:
| Coming up |
Who: Former nuclear workers of Westinghouse's Cheswick plant.
What: Organizational meeting.
When: 2 p.m. Feb. 9.
Where: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1914, School Street, Springdale Township.
