A federal fund to compensate Americans diagnosed with cancer or other illnesses linked to radiation exposure has been revived. And victims exposed to radiation in the St. Louis area are now eligible for $100,000 payments.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) expired just over a year ago after the U.S. House refused to pass Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s bill to keep it alive and extend it to radiation victims in the St. Louis area. Now, language included in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill restarts the program and expands eligibility.
“HUGE WIN for Missouri,” Hawley posted on X, formerly Twitter. “After 5 decades, survivors of nuclear radiation will FINALLY be compensated by the government that poisoned them.”
Atomic bombs were produced in St. Louis during World War II. After the war, radioactive waste eventually leaked into Coldwater Creek near Lambert International Airport and into the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton.
Other members of Missouri’s congressional delegation weighed in.
“We will get long overdue and much-needed compensation for Missourians affected by radiation exposure through the expansion of RECA, a huge win for our St. Louis region that I was proud to fight for,” said U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo. 2nd Dist.
The renewed act will provide up to $100,000 to victims of radiation exposure, with $50 billion per year in the program. However, it will expire again in two years unless Congress votes to keep it going.
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