
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 6, 1990                   TAG: 9006060433
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

NUCLEAR TESTING VICTIMS MAY BE COMPENSATED

More than 40 years after exposing thousands of Americans to dangerous radiation from nuclear testing programs, the government is close to offering an apology and compensation to those who have cancer.

A bill approved by the House on voice vote Tuesday would set up a $100 million fund to pay victims of radiation disease brought on by the atmospheric nuclear testing program conducted in Nevada from 1945 to 1963 and the mining of uranium for the tests.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act is awaiting floor action in the Senate.

During the atmospheric atomic weapons testing, an estimated 220,000 military personnel and 150,000 civilians were exposed to radiation. Those in the military who became ill have received disability benefits.

-Associated Press

by CNB