More Former Nuclear Metals Employees Eligible for Medical Benefits, Compensation

A new group former employees of Nuclear Metals Inc. is now eligible for compensation and medical benefits under an act that covers workers who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry.

The U.S. Department of Labor is notifying all former employees of Nuclear Metals of a new class of employees recently added to the Special Exposure Cohort of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, according to a department press release.

The new cohort includes all automatic weapons employees who worked for Nuclear Metals or a subsequent owner of its West Concord facility from Oct. 29, 1958 through Dec. 31, 1979 for at least 250 workdays.

Their designation under the SEC became effective on Jan. 6, meaning those workers who are diagnosed with one of 22 specified cancers may receive a presumption of causation under the EEOICPA.

To date, $2.5 million in EEOICPA compensation and medical benefits has been paid to 18 Nuclear Metals Inc. claimants, according to the press release.

The Nuclear Metals/Starmet site in West Concord was added to the Superfund National Priorities List in 2001.

In recent years federal environmental officials and contractors de maximus inc. have been working to clean up the property, located at 2229 Main St., which is contaminated by depleted uranium. An agreement to remove the buildings came in 2011, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Energy, Textron, Inc. and the Whittaker Corporation agreed on the terms.

The last Starmet employees vacated the site in November 2011, according to a Globe report from March 2012. And the contractor tasked with demolishing the superfund site began some outdoor activities last month.

For additional information about the new SEC or to schedule an appointment for claim-filing assistance, contact the Labor Department’s New York Resource Center at 800-941-3943.