The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is a site in Washington that used to make plutonium, and workers have been claiming that their employment there made them sick. It has been difficult for some workers suffering from neurological disease, respiratory illnesses or cancers to receive workers’ compensation but now the Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, signed a bill that will make it much easier for workers to qualify for benefits.

Substitute House Bill 1723 creates a presumption that illnesses developed by Hanford workers are due to chemicals that are present at the site or radiation exposure, so workers will not have to provide evidence that their illnesses were caused by their employment or from which specific chemical. Workers who worked even a single eight-hour shift will be covered and claims may be filed at any point in their lifetime, since exposure can take a long time to manifest into an illness. The presumption may be rebutted if there is clear and convincing evidence of other conditions that may have caused illness such as smoking or other lifestyle factors, hereditary conditions, physical fitness, or employment at other jobs where there was exposure to toxic substance. Workers who had been denied in the past can re-file a claim under the new standards, and family members of deceased workers who had been denied may also re-file.

A bill was introduced in the state legislature in 2017 that failed to pass before an April deadline, but this bill was introduced after last May’s partial collapse of a tunnel that stored radioactive waste. Thousands of workers at the site sheltered in place while they determined whether or not radioactive material had been released into the air. Since that collapse, 41 workers who had been doing demolition work at the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the site have tested positive for ingesting or inhaling small amount of radioactive material. Demolition is halted at the site.

The United States Department of Energy owns the site and is self-insured. They plan to open a center to help workers figure out their options for compensation and health care under this new bills, as well as discuss information related to the federal and state programs that currently exist to help energy workers with benefits and medical care.

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