Panel hears testimony on compensation for nuclear workers

COLUMBUS — Mike Gibson, who worked 15 years as an electrician at the Department of Energy's Mound Plant, says the extent of radiation exposure he received may never be known.

He and other workers were improperly tested for exposure to radiation, Gibson told a special congressional panel looking at proposals to compensate people made ill by their work during the Cold War.

In addition, workers were never tested for exposure to another type of radioactive material, he said. While the improper testing could be reviewed, the latter exposure will never be known, Gibson said.

"They sent us into areas and did not tell us this isotope was there, they did not provide any protection, they did not take any worker samples to determine the dose,'' said Gibson, who now works full time for the union representing workers at the Mound Plant, a former trigger-making facility near Miamisburg.

Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, held the hearing to record testimony on proposed legislation to compensate workers in Ohio and other states sickened by exposure to radiation, beryllium and other hazardous materials as they worked on Cold War weapons.

Earlier this month, lawmakers from states with weapons plants introduced the proposal to offer at least $200,000 apiece to cancer-stricken bomb factory workers, double the Clinton administration's request.

The bill, proposed by Sen. George Voinovich, also an Ohio Republican, would also give the Labor Department oversight of compensation, taking it out of the hands of the Department of Energy.