Since 1990 the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) has provided American citizens with partial restitution for radiation exposure from from U.S. nuclear weapons testing and production. RECA expired in June of 2024, adding injustice to the illness, pain and death caused by radiation exposure from weapons.  

In his letter on ecology, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis affirmed that war always does grave harm to the environment and to the cultural riches of peoples, and he prayed at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial for all the victims of atomic bombings and experiments. “Never again so much suffering!” he lamented.  

In March of 2024, the Senate passed the bipartisan Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act (S. 3853) to extend RECA and expand eligible claimants to include ‘downwinders’ (persons in areas exposed to radiation from a weapons test) in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Guam, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. The Act now includes compensation eligibility for those exposed to radiation where Manhattan Project nuclear waste was stored, extends uranium worker eligibility and adds chronic leukemia and renal cancer as compensable diseases. 

Now, the expansion and extension of RECA depends on the House of Representatives. Please urge your Representative to support the expansion and extension of compensation to persons suffering from exposure to radiation from U.S. nuclear weapons testing, production, and waste. 

You can read USCCB’s recent letter to Congress in support of the bipartisan Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act (S. 3853) here.