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For Cold War Workers, Finding Compensation an Uphill Struggle

Ben Pounds, Oak Ridger

For many years, workers who blamed health issues on work they did at federal nuclear or chemical facilities had little recourse. That began to change in 2000, when Congress authorized money to pay medical expenses and other costs. But obtaining and filing the required documentation to get that money is laborious, complicated and frustrating.

Larry Lane and Ben Carpenter worked at Oak Ridge National Lab for decades. They attribute their declining health to chemicals they worked with. But proving that is a tall order, as they explain in this interview with WUOT’s Brandon Hollingsworth.