The Radiation Exposure and Compensation ACT (RECA) is a federal law that pays a monetary sum to individuals (or their surviving family members) who developed certain cancers due to exposure to radiation from nuclear weapons.
RECA was reauthorized and expanded under the One Big Beautiful Bill and enacted on July 4, 2025. The bill made significant changes to the eligibility criteria under RECA. The categories of claimants under RECA are:
1. Downwinders: individuals who developed cancers after exposure to above ground nuclear testing
2. Onsite Participants: individuals who participated in onsite nuclear testing
3. Uranium Workers: individuals who worked in jobs relating to uranium mining
4. Manhattan Project Waste: individuals who developed covered cancers after living, working, or attending school in areas affected by Manhattan Project waste contamination.
Covered Cancers include: leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia), multiple myeloma, lymphomas (other than Hodgkin’s disease), and primary cancers of the: thyroid, male or female breast, esophagus, stomach, pharynx, small intestine, pancreas, bile ducts, gall bladder, salivary gland, urinary bladder, brain, colon, ovary, liver (except if cirrhosis or Hepatitis B is indicated, or lung.
Rocky Flats Downwinders are not part of RECA and neither is Colorado, but that needs to change. We believe Rocky Flats and Cotter Mill should be covered under the Manhattan Project Waste category and Colorado should be included as a Downwinder state.