November 8, 2011 - With the clock ticking, R.J. Ritter is on a hunt for an estimated 195,000 veterans exposed to radiation when the United States conducted atmospheric nuclear bomb tests between 1945 and 1962."We are in a race against time because atomic veterans are aging," says Ritter, national commander of the National Association of Atomic Veterans (NAAV) since 2006.
If these veterans have any one of 21 cancers traceable to radiation exposure, Ritter says, the men or their widows and children are entitled to a onetime award of up to $75,000 from the Justice Department under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990, or a monthly disability payment of up to $2,673 from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Finding these survivors is a tough challenge for Ritter, who is trying to get the word out. Their average age is 84, and the Defense Department estimates they are dying at a rate of 16,000 a year. read more>>>
No comments:
Post a Comment