Nuclear Weapons Workers Honored by NIOSH
NIOSH is marking a National Day of Remembrance for those workers and has a new interim director for the Office of Compensation Analysis and Support, which administers NIOSH’s duties under the act that compensates these workers for illnesses associated with their work.
NIOSH made two announcements Oct. 29 concerning programs dedicated to aiding workers in the U.S. nuclear weapons program during the Cold War. Besides asking the public to join in honoring the National Day of Remembrance today for those workers, the agency said it will begin a scientific and administrative review of its responsibilities under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act , which is approaching its 10th anniversary .
Besides the review of the performance of the three regulations adopted by NIOSH to carry out the purposes of the act, the agency will begin a national search for a new director of the NIOSH Office of Compensation Analysis and Support, which administers NIOSH's duties under the act. Stuart Hinnefeld, the office's technical program manager, will be interim OCAS director as of Nov. 2 until a new permanent director is installed. The former director, Larry Elliott, will be a NIOSH associate director responsible for combining NIOSH's Cincinnati laboratories and other duties.
"I want to express my appreciation to Larry Elliott for his leadership over the past nine years as the founding director of OCAS," NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard said. "Larry established the NIOSH Radiation Dose Reconstruction Program, ensured state-of-the-art facilities for the program, oversaw the important work of several contractors, developed and implemented the three program regulations, fairly administered a staff of outstanding health physicists and other technical experts in OCAS, worked collaboratively with the Departments of Labor and Energy and the many stakeholders of the program, made numerous outstanding presentations on behalf of the program, and processed more than 30,000 Part B cases received from the U.S. Department of Labor since the program’s inception."
More information about the act is available here.