Stephens and Stephens RECA lawyers represent uranium workers filing RECA compensation in New Mexico and nationwide. These include uranium millers, miners, ore transporters, core drillers, and remediation workers who worked for at least one year between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1990. Eligible uranium workers receive $150,000 in compensation as well as medical and impairment benefits. You might also qualify for compensation if your loved one, who was a uranium worker, died of a RECA covered illness. Covered illnesses include lung cancer, nonmalignant respiratory disease, renal cancer, and chronic renal disease.
Contact our RECA attorney, Hugh Stephens, on his cell phone at (716) 208-3525 for a free claim evaluation and assistance filing a RECA uranium worker claim. We only charge you after your claim has been accepted. Our rates are 2% of the payment you receive if your claim is accepted after the initial filing, and 10% if your claim is accepted after it was initially denied.
How to file a RECA uranium workers’ claim
If you intend to file a uranium worker RECA claim, you should be able to prove that you meet the eligibility criteria. Those eligible for compensation must have:
- Worked for at least one year as a uranium miller, miner, ore transporter, core driller, or remediation worker in New Mexico or other uranium mining states between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1990.
- Have medical evidence of a covered illness (lung cancer, nonmalignant respiratory disease, renal cancer, or other chronic renal disease) that developed after uranium employment.
Uranium mining in New Mexico
New Mexico has the largest uranium reserves in the United States. Most of the uranium in New Mexico is found in the Grants Mineral Belt, in McKinley and Cibola counties in the northwest part of the state. Uranium mining in New Mexico started in 1920. Mining peaked in the 1950s, with many companies investing in the industry. They included Anaconda Company, Phillips Petroleum Company, Rio de Oro Uranium Mines Inc, Kermac Nuclear Fuels Corporation (a cooperative of Kerr-McGee Oil Industries, Anderson Development Corporation, and Pacific Uranium Mines Inc), Homestake Mining Company, Sabre-Pinion Corporation, United Western Minerals Company (of General Patrick Jay Hurley), J H Whitney and Company, White Weld & Co., San Jacinto Petroleum Corporation, Lisbon Uranium Corporation, and Superior Oil Company among others.
There has been no active uranium mining in New Mexico since 1998, due to the low prices of uranium in the country, a lack of new nuclear power plants, and increased importation. Rio Algom underground mines at Ambrosia Lake flooded, and the company continued to recover uranium dissolved in water until 2002. As of the beginning of 2014, there were twelve licensed uranium mines in New Mexico, including Strathmore Minerals Corp., Neutron Energy, URI, and Grants Energy.
Historically, uranium mining in NM was conventional, where ore was removed from open-pit and underground. The ore was then crushed and sent through the mill, where it was converted into a uranium‐oxygen compound called “yellowcake.” The mill tailings are the fine‐grained, sandy waste byproduct of the milling process, and it is deposited in a constructed impoundment known as a “mill tailings pile.”. Modern uranium mining technology applies the in‐situ leaching process, where wells are drilled into rock formations containing uranium ore. Water mixed with oxygen and sodium bicarbonate is then injected down the wells to mobilize the uranium in the rock and dissolve it. It is then pumped to the surface, where a processing plant separates the uranium from the water, leaving behind a byproduct or waste (tailings pile).
Uranium, radium, and radon are radionuclides that occur naturally in the environment. Uranium mill tailings pose a serious health hazard because they contain radium, which decays to produce radon, a radioactive gas. It will take thousands of years for the radium in these tailings to decay entirely. Long-term exposure to uranium and radon in humans is linked to respiratory effects, such as chronic respiratory diseases and different types of cancer, including cancers of the lungs, bone, head, nasal passage, and lymphatic and hematopoietic tissues. However, the EPA has not classified uranium, radon, or radium for carcinogenicity.
To provide for the safe disposal, long‐term stabilization, and control of uranium mill tailings and to minimize or eliminate radiation health hazards to the public, Congress enacted the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA). UMTRCA has two major sections: Title I addresses uranium milling sites (tailings) that were inactive at the time the law was passed, and Title II addresses milling sites (tailings) licensed as of 1978. Title I specifies the inactive mill sites for remediation and EPA standards for the cleanup and disposal of contaminated material. Title II defines EPA standards for the clean-up and disposal of byproduct material or mill tailings produced at active mill operations sites. It established the NRC, or Agreement State, which reviews license applications, issues licenses, conducts inspections, terminates licenses, and oversees EPA compliance decommissioning activities.
There are hundreds of abandoned uranium mines in New Mexico. Some homes in the Navajo communities surrounding these mines are built with contaminated mine waste rock, and people use water from contaminated water wells. In 2008, the EPA initiated a federal Five‐Year Plan in conjunction with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service, ATSDR, DOE, NRC, and the Navajo Nation to address the contamination problem.
Uranium Miners in New Mexico are at an increased risk of lung cancer
Uranium exposure can cause deep lung irritation that can degrade into fibrosis or emphysema. It is also associated with oxidative stress, altered gene expression, and inhibition of sodium-dependent phosphate and glucose transport systems.
Uranium miners who worked in New Mexico mines between the 1940s and 1950s, and those living around the mines, have a significantly high rate of lung cancer. The increased rate of lung cancer is linked to the release of radon gas and uranium decay. Internal exposure to radioactive materials during uranium mining and processing can take place through inhalation, ingestion, or open skin. External radiation exposure, such as exposure to beta, gamma, and to a lesser extent, alpha radiation, can also present a health risk.
Radon and its alpha-emitting radioactive decay products are not the only radionuclides of health concern associated with uranium mining and processing. Workers are also at risk from exposure to other radionuclides, including uranium itself, which undergo radioactive decay by alpha, beta, or gamma emission. For instance, radium-226 and its decay products, such as bismuth-214 and lead-214, present alpha and gamma radiation hazards to uranium miners and processors.
Once inhaled and deposited in the lung, the short-lived radon decay products (polonium-218, polonium-214), rather than the radon gas, deliver radiation dose in the form of alpha particles to the respiratory epithelium. Alpha particles impart a high density of ionizations along their short path (i.e., high linear energy transfer), a process that results in DNA damage. Radiation-induced carcinogenesis is thought to arise from DNA damage to a single cell (i.e., cancer is monoclonal). There is overwhelming evidence supporting such a monoclonal cancer origin, but there is no threshold for radon-induced lung cancer.
Radiation typically encountered in uranium mining or processing facility operations includes alpha (α), beta (β), and gamma (γ) radiation. Alpha particles travel only a few centimeters in air and can cause a high density of ionizations along their path. They can also penetrate the dead layer of skin. If radionuclides that decay by alpha emission (e.g., polonium-218, polonium-214) are inhaled, they have the potential to impart a significant dose to the pulmonary epithelium. The dose of alpha energy delivered by an alpha particle to the DNA in a cell in the respiratory epithelium is fixed and not dependent on concentration or duration of exposure. Although alpha particles can travel only a short distance, they impart a much greater effective dose than beta particles or gamma rays. Alpha particles produce a high proportion of double-strand DNA breaks, which are more difficult for the body to repair.
Apart from respiratory illnesses, some studies have established an increased rate of kidney damage and cardiovascular disease among New Mexico uranium miners. Uranium exposure also causes systemic toxicity, affecting pulmonary, hepatic, reproductive, neurological, and bone health
Uranium Miners and Kidney Damage
The primary target of uranium exposure is the renal tubules of the kidneys. Some case studies have shown that kidney damage caused by occupational uranium overexposure can eventually heal after the excessive exposure ends. Experimental models link uranium exposure with acute renal failure and pathologic changes consistent with acute tubular necrosis.
Uranium renal toxicity occurs from the release of uranium from the serum bicarbonate complex in the kidney. The uranium binds to available phosphate and protein. Overexposure irritates and damages the proximal convoluted tubule, leading to the glomerulus. Also, uranium inhibition of mitochondrial ATPase activity and sodium transport mechanisms reduces the functionality and repair capacity of the epithelium.
Let us help you file a Uranium Workers’ RECA Claim
The process of filing a successful RECA claim can be complex for a layperson. Contact us for help filing a RECA uranium worker claim. Our experienced RECA attorneys will assist you in gathering medical and employment evidence necessary for the processing of your claim. We can also help you appeal your claim if it was wrongfully denied.
