Radiation Compensation Act: Who Qualifies, Payouts, and Filing

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act pays a one-time lump sum of up to $100,000 to people who developed serious illnesses after exposure to radiation from the U.S. nuclear weapons program. Congress first passed the law in 1990, let it briefly lapse in 2024, then reauthorized and expanded it through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025. Every claim must be filed by December 31, 2027.

Who Qualifies

RECA recognizes four groups. Each has its own presence, residency, or employment test, and each has its own list of compensable illnesses. Filing under the wrong category is a common reason for denials, so start here.

Downwinders

Downwinders lived in areas hit by fallout from atmospheric nuclear tests. You qualify if you were physically present in a covered area for at least one of the following periods:

New Mexico, one year between September 24, 1944, and November 6, 1962
Any affected area, one year between January 21, 1951, and November 6, 1962
Any affected area, the full period from June 30, 1962, through July 31, 1962

Covered areas include all of Idaho, New Mexico, and Utah; six Arizona counties (Coconino, Yavapai, Navajo, Apache, Gila, and Mohave); and parts of Nevada (White Pine, Nye, Lander, Lincoln, and Eureka counties, plus specific townships in Clark County).¹ The residency requirement is one year. Older guides sometimes say two; that’s wrong.

Onsite Participants

Onsite participants were present during or shortly after atmospheric nuclear tests. This mostly covers military personnel and civilian employees of the Manhattan Engineer District, the Defense Nuclear Agency, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Department of Energy. Qualifying work includes duty in operational areas around a detonation, decontamination of ships or equipment, cloud tracking and sampling, and fallout monitoring.²

Uranium Workers

Uranium workers include miners, millers, core drillers, ore transporters, and people involved in mine or mill remediation. You qualify if you worked in a covered occupation for at least one year between January 1, 1942, and December 31, 1990. Miners can also qualify by documenting exposure of 40 or more working level months, even without a full year of employment.¹ Covered work states are Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, and Texas.

Manhattan Project Waste

The 2025 reauthorization added a category for people who lived near sites contaminated by Manhattan Project nuclear waste. You must have been physically present for at least two years after January 1, 1949, in designated zip codes in Missouri, Tennessee, Alaska, or Kentucky. The DOJ website publishes the specific zip codes.¹ Payment for this group works differently from the others, as described below.

Which Illnesses Are Covered

Your diagnosis has to match the list for your category. The medical records need to state the diagnosis in standard clinical terminology; vague or informal wording is one of the most common causes of delay and one of the easiest problems to fix before filing.

Downwinders, Onsite Participants, and Manhattan Project Waste Claimants

Recognized illnesses for these three groups include leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia), multiple myeloma, and lymphomas other than Hodgkin’s disease. The program also covers primary cancers of the thyroid, breast, esophagus, stomach, pharynx, small intestine, pancreas, bile ducts, gall bladder, salivary gland, urinary bladder, brain, colon, ovary, lung, and liver (unless cirrhosis or hepatitis B is present).¹ Leukemia claims carry additional timing rules on exposure age and onset that the DOJ applies at review.³

Uranium Workers

Uranium workers have a different list reflecting the hazards of the work: lung cancer, renal cancer, other chronic renal diseases (including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue injury), and several non-malignant respiratory illnesses, specifically pulmonary fibrosis, cor pulmonale related to fibrosis of the lung, silicosis, and pneumoconiosis.¹

How Much RECA Pays

RECA pays fixed lump sums. The amount does not scale with the severity of your illness or your medical costs. After the 2025 reauthorization:

Downwinders: $100,000
Onsite participants: $100,000, reduced by any VA payment for the same illness
Uranium workers: $100,000
Manhattan Project Waste, living claimants: the greater of $50,000 or total documented out-of-pocket medical expenses for the covered illness not reimbursed by insurance or other programs
Manhattan Project Waste, deceased claimants: $25,000 to the surviving spouse, or equal shares to surviving children if there is no spouse

Payments are not subject to federal income tax under 26 U.S.C. § 104(a)(2), which excludes compensation for physical injuries or sickness.² If the exposed person has died, survivors of downwinders, onsite participants, and uranium workers can claim equal shares of the full $100,000 payment on submitted documentation of their relationship to the deceased.¹

Extra Compensation for Uranium Workers

A uranium worker who receives a RECA Section 5 award can claim an additional $50,000 under Part B of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, plus ongoing medical benefits for the accepted illness. The Part B claim rides on the RECA decision: if RECA denies, Part B denies. Part E of EEOICPA is a separate track that pays based on impairment and wage loss, plus a $125,000 lump sum to survivors, and it can succeed even when the RECA claim did not.⁴ EEOICPA is administered by the Department of Labor, not the DOJ, so it requires a separate filing.

Documents to Gather Before You File

The strength of a RECA claim comes down to paperwork. Assemble everything before you start the forms.

Every claimant needs certified medical records confirming a qualifying diagnosis from a physician. Pathology reports, imaging results, and surgical summaries carry more weight than office notes. Uranium workers also need proof of employment: Social Security earnings records, pay stubs, mining permits, or union records showing where and when they worked.¹ Downwinders and Manhattan Project Waste claimants need residency proof for the required period, which can come from tax assessments, school transcripts, or utility bills. Cross-check your documents for consistency before you submit; an address mismatch between employment and Social Security records is the kind of thing that stalls a claim for months.

How to File

You can file two ways. The DOJ operates an electronic claim portal where you complete the application online and upload scanned certified or original documents.⁵ Or you can mail a paper form with original or certified documentation to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program at P.O. Box 146, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044-0146. The DOJ does not accept claims by email.

The filing deadline is December 31, 2027, and it is written into the statute. There is currently no signal that Congress will extend it again.¹

What Happens After You File

Federal regulations give the DOJ 12 months from the filing date to issue a written decision. The clock pauses if the agency asks you for more information and restarts once you respond or tell them you can’t provide what they asked for.³ Responding quickly to those requests is the one lever you control.

If the claim is denied, you have 60 days from the decision date to file a written appeal. An appeals officer appointed by the Assistant Attorney General can affirm, reverse, or remand for further review. If that appeal also fails, you can seek judicial review in a U.S. District Court.² You can also refile a denied claim with new or additional evidence, though the attorney fee cap changes on a resubmission.

Attorney Fees

RECA caps legal fees by statute. On an initial claim under a contract signed on or after July 10, 2000, the fee is limited to 2% of the award, meaning $2,000 on a $100,000 payment. On resubmissions of previously denied claims, the cap rises to 10%. Attorneys may also bill reasonable out-of-pocket costs like copying and postage. If the claim pays nothing, the attorney gets nothing.² The DOJ does not require you to have a lawyer, and many claimants file on their own. Where paid help tends to earn its cost is on a refiling, where diagnosing exactly why the first claim failed is often the whole game.

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
2
Congressional Research Service. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA)
3
eCFR. 28 Code of Federal Regulations Part 79 – Claims Under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
4
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. RECA Section 5 Cases
5
U.S. Department of Justice. Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Electronic Claim Portal