Nuclear (fuel) Workers Eligible for Payments [View All]

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5424880.html

WASHINGTON — After a yearslong fight, tens of thousands of workers at a former nuclear fuel processing plant in Armstrong County are now eligible for government aid for their illnesses.

To qualify for the $150,000 in compensation, the workers must have worked at the plant in Apollo for at least 250 days between 1957 and 1983 and have one of 22 different cancers.

Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp., or NUMEC, began work in and around the tiny town of Apollo, about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh, in 1957. The plant, which changed ownership over the years, produced fuel for nuclear submarines and other purposes.

Decades later, activists and former workers began questioning whether the plant had contributed to cancers among employees and townspeople. They petitioned the government for reparations. Lawsuits _ some still pending _ also followed.

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