(The Center Square) — Veterans reportedly have faced a difficult time receiving compensation for decades of radiation exposure at classified sites.
U.S. Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, both D-Nevada, look to change this.
The FORGOTTEN Veterans Act would expand toxic exposure compensation to veterans stationed at classified sites across Nevada’s Test and Training Range. Over 1,000 nuclear tests were conducted at the Nevada Test Site between 1951 and 1992 during the Cold War. Radiation from the site is known to cause a number of cancers to civilians and soldiers in the area.
“As a nation, it is our obligation to take care of all veterans once their service has ended,” said Cortez Masto in a press release. “This is especially true for veterans of the Nevada Test and Training Range, who faced toxic exposure daily as part of their duties and should have parity with their civilian counterparts.”
The FORGOTTEN Veterans Act, which stands for Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada, would expand PACT Act benefits to veterans stationed in classified areas of the Nevada Test Site.
Rather than require veterans to submit evidence of their classified stationing, the secretary of the air force would identify all veterans who served at the Nevada Test Site since Jan. 27, 1951. The senators said the government would then “establish a process for service members and veterans to provide proof of their assignment within the NTTR (Nevada Test and Training Range).”
The bill would also make the Nevada Test Site a presumption-of-toxic exposure site, taking away the burden of proof for veterans who served in the nuclear testing site.
“Today, after decades of denial by our own government, the veterans who were exposed to toxic radiation and materials on the Nevada Test and Training Range are closer than ever to getting the recognition and benefits they’ve earned,” said Dave Crete, chairman of The Invisible Enemy, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting veterans who have experienced toxic exposure at the Nevada Test and Training Range.
If passed by Congress, the FORGOTTEN Veterans Act would:
• Classify the Nevada Test and Training Range as contaminated.
• Require the Department of Defense to document all exposures, including those that occur domestically, into the service member’s Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record, so it can be seen by the Department of Veteran Affairs when service members transition to civilian life, while still protecting the classified nature of the location of their service.
• Require the secretary of the air force to identify all those who served within the NTTR since Jan. 27, 1951, establish a process for service members and veterans to provide proof of their assignment within the NTTR, and make all efforts to identify individuals, without requiring them to submit evidence of their specific stationing.
• Establish a presumption of toxic exposure for DOD personnel who served at any Department of Energy Covered Facilities — such as those within the NTTR — where DOE employees have a presumption of exposure and are covered under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. One such DOE-covered facility within the NTTR is the Tonopah Test Range, which is both a DOE and DOD installation.
• Add service at military installations within the NTTR to the list of Veteran Affairs’ recognized “radiation-risk activities,” dating back to Jan. 27, 1951, including veterans who participated in the development, construction, operation or maintenance of military installations at NTTR — beyond just nuclear test observers.
• Establish a presumption of toxic exposure for veterans who served on or above NTTR, easing the burden of proof in VA claims.
• Expand presumptive conditions for service connection by adding lymphomas and tumor-related conditions to the list of automatically presumed service-connected illnesses.
Nationally, the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act extended a different toxic exposure compensation bill, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA. The program started in 1990 and ended in 2024, having given out over $3.5 billion to 39,000 people. It has been extended until the end of 2028 with a wider variety of acceptable compensation claims.
