US Extends Nuclear Veteran Compensation program

On the 5th of July 2025, President Trump signed the 'Big Beautiful' bill into law in the USA. Included in this bill was the extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

It increases the compensation amount, the areas affected but has excluded many communities who still fight for justice, including the clean-up veterans.

Why does this matter in the UK? It matters because the UK still has no specific program for compensating the British Nuclear Test Veterans and their families, leaving it as the only testing country not to have a scheme. It also matters because included in this bill are the UK participants of Operation Dominic in 1962.

LABRATS are part of a coalition of communities that have been working extremely hard under the stewardship of Lilly Adams of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Meeting regularly as the original bill came up to its end date and through the lapsed year, campaigning and meeting with senators and other officials in the USA.

The new bill raises the compensation to $100,000 from either $50,000 or $75,000, depending on the disease. Spearheaded by Sen. Josh Hawley, this is a major step forward, but the bill has excluded some groups, and the coalition continues to fight for their inclusion. These include Guam, Montona, Colorado and the Enewetak Clean-up veterans.

“To all the radiation survivors and nuclear veterans across the country: WE DID IT,” Hawley said in a post on the social platform X. 

Speaking the The Hill, Mary Dickinson, an activist who grew up in Salt Lake City and later developed thyroid cancer from living downwind of nuclear weapons testing in Nevada and can claim for the first time said:

“The winds blew the fallout across the country. Utah was blanketed. So we were exposed repeatedly to fallout. It’s not going to bring back all the loved ones who have died," including her sister, who died of lupus, an autoimmune disease.

She said she was “crying” when the legislation passed the House, calling it “an acknowledgement that our government did this to us.”

The legislation includes:

• ECA would be extended through Dec 31 2028

• Downwind eligibility dates extended through Nov 1962

• Compensation for downwinders and onsite participants increased to $100,000

• Downwind expansion would cover

  • all of the states of Utah and New Mexico

  • Arizona downwind area would be expanded to include all of Mohave County

  • Nevada downwinder area remains the same

• Uranium miner coverage would be expanded:

  • To workers through Dec 31 1990

  • To core drillers and remediation workers

  • To cover additional kidney disease for uranium miners

  • Allows for combined work histories

• Would cover communities impacted by waste in certain zip codes of Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alaska

  • These claimants are eligible for either $50,000 or total losses due to medical expenses

• Other changes from the bill that passed in March 2024:

  • Downwind expansion would not cover Idaho, Montana, Colorado, or Guam

  • No agreement/study on human + ecological health at the Amchitka site

  • No expansion of use of affidavits

  • Previously successful claimants are not eligible to get the difference between their first claim and $100,000

  • No grant program on epidemiological impacts of uranium mining/milling

  • Doesn't automatically create a special exposure cohort for newly covered uranium workers

  • No GAO study/report on unmet medical benefits

• Zip codes in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington states are not included

Eric Barton, who is the LABRATS RECA representative and provides help and assistance through https://reca.uk/ and is a veteran of Operation Dominic, said:

"This is great news for those families in the UK who qualify.

The question is why hasn't the UK implemented such a program?"

Eric's question is one only the Ministry of Defence, Sir Keir Starmer and John Healey can answer.

The campaigners for the expansion of RECA said:

"Too many communities still suffering from the health and environmental impacts of U.S. nuclear weapons development and testing remain excluded from this bill. This bill is progress, not closure—thousands of Americans will continue to suffer from devastating illnesses from radiation exposure, without seeing a dime from their government that is responsible. This fight is far from over—we will keep organizing, keep speaking out, and keep pushing with one voice until justice reaches every impacted person."

"We, the thousands of Americans harmed by nuclear weapons development—downwinders, uranium workers, and communities exposed to radioactive waste, refuse to stand down. Our suffering is not history; it’s ongoing. We demand accountability and a commitment to justice that leaves no one behind"

The US Government have spent over 2 billion dollars on the RECA program, they have apologised for the human experimentation, and they have apologised for the consequences of their actions during their testing program. What has the UK done?

• Undertaken studies, then rewrote the conclusion they didn't like

• Classified documents under national security to hide blood and urine tests

• Denied any existence on blood and urine testing, only to later accept that they existed

• Resisted any collaboration on a one-year inquiry into the testing program

• Fought the Nuclear Veterans in court, costing the taxpayer millions of pounds

• Forcing the Veterans, in their eighties, to crowdfund for litigation as Legal Aid is denied

Why is the UK the only testing country not to accept responsibility? Even Fiji and the Isle of Man have accepted responsibility. Are they waiting for the veterans to die?

John Healey told us in 2022 that there is no moral reason why compensation has not been paid. Keir Starmer told us he stood with us, and the medal was just the start. Angela Raynor told John Morris she would do everything in her power to get John what he wanted.

So our message is to those three individuals who sit at the top tier of our government, meet with us and let's end this 73-year injustice and remove this stain on our country's history.

How embarrassing is it that a foreign country is compensating UK service personnel when the UK denies all responsibility?

LABRATS have sent details of the bill to the Veterans Minister, Al Carns and the Office for Veterans' Affairs for an official comment. We will update the community on their response should we receive one.

You can find out more about the program and how UK participants of Operation Dominic can claim at https://reca.uk/