Thousands of former Department of Energy and Atomic workers living in Tennessee suffer from illnesses due to their workplace exposure to radioactive and toxic substances.
Nuclear Care Partners delivers customized, no-cost, in-home health care to former Department of Energy and Atomic Workers impacted by workplace exposure, so they can live healthier, more independent lives at home. We integrate expert clinical care, innovative health programs, and relentless benefits advocacy all under one roof, empowering atomic heroes to access and maximize their care and compensation benefits under the EEOICPA program.
Meet other former workers, explore helpful resources and get answers to your EEOICPA questions.
We can help you determine your EEOICPA benefits eligibility and connect you with resources to help you access and maximize your compensation and medical benefits.
For over a decade, we’ve helped former atomic workers, including former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Y-12 Plant, and Oak Ridge National Lab workers, get connected with and maximize their EEOICPA benefits and receive the quality care services they deserve. We know the EEOICPA inside and out and can help you wherever you’re at in your journey with your benefits!
More than 600,000 former atomic workers across the United States may qualify for up to $400,000 in financial compensation, plus no cost medical benefits for life through the Department of Labor’s EEOICPA.
Located on the southwestern end of the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee, the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25) enriched uranium through gaseous diffusion to separate uranium-235 from uranium-238. Gaseous diffusion was a process that provided uranium for the Hiroshima weapon (Little Boy). Beginning in 1943 and completed in early 1945, the K-25 plant employed 12,000 workers and at its peak, it contained five uranium enrichment facilities. K-25 was the prototype for other Oak Ridge plants such as those at Paducah and Portsmouth.
Shortly before US involvement in WWII, the US government began operations to produce the vital elements needed to make a new kind of weapon: the atomic bomb. This was in response to fears that scientists in Nazi Germany were also working towards the development of atomic weapons. This highly secretive effort was later referred to as the Manhattan Project, which operated in three primary locations: Hanford, Washington, Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Additionally, there were other infrastructure sites that supported the mining of uranium, the extraction of plutonium from uranium, and the production of uranium-235 — an isotope comprising less than 1% of naturally occurring uranium, through enrichment.
The area and city known today as Oak Ridge, Tennessee was selected as a production site in September of 1942. In February 1943, construction began on a planned city and industrial complex that would eventually cover 90 square-miles. Within Oak Ridge, the electromagnetic isotope separation facility codenamed Y-12, a complex comprising 270 buildings, housed the operation and workers tasked with enriching uranium.
At its peak, Y-12 employed over 22,000 men and women. Jobs at the plant included research and development, manufacturing, production, laboratory work, and support.
After the production of the materials for the first atomic bombs during WWII, the missions of the Y-12 National Security Complex, as it came to be known, were to:
There were four main components to this mission; production, surveillance testing, disassembly, and storage. Production involved the making of new elements, as well as a process called refurbishment, that combined new components with recycled materials. Surveillance testing was used to monitor how weapons in the stockpile were aging and disassembly separated materials of retired weapons and recuperating their nuclear parts.
Along with the removal and security of nuclear materials, undertakings to reduce the global threat of nuclear war included making certain weapons material available for non-war uses, such as fueling nuclear research reactors and the production of medical components. The Y-12 Complex works closely with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) along with other federal agencies to securely protect and guard nuclear materials. Through NNSA’s Office of Material Management and Minimization, Y-12 secures and transports materials for safe storage or disposal.
In an agreement with NNSA’s Naval Reactors Office, Y-12 has, and will continue their endeavor to provide highly enriched uranium (stockpile) to fuel the US Navy’s nuclear powered aircrafts and submarines. In addition to assisting the Nuclear Navy, Y-12 will soon be able to use nuclear weapons stockpiles to replace conventional x-rays.
The ending of World War II was largely credited to the dropping atomic bomb, “Little Boy” over Hiroshima, Japan on August 6th, 1945. However, production of the atomic weapon required uranium-235, a highly enriched uranium, and a significant element needed to properly detonate the weapon. Since uranium-235 makes up only 1 part in 140 of natural uranium, necessary enrichment of the uranium was performed at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The first 200g shipment of highly enriched uranium was sent to the Los Alamos Laboratory, where the rest of production took place, in June 1944.
Today, Y-12 continues to bolster national security today as a one-of-a-kind industrial asset in the production, processing, and storage of defense related materials. It continues its responsibility for stewardship of nuclear materials stockpile and also assists in nuclear non-proliferation.
To read the full article, check out our Fall 2022 Atomic Health News edition
As a part of the Manhattan Project, the mission of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (previously named Clinton Laboratories or X-10) was to develop and test the experimental Graphite Reactor. ORNL continued on to design and build many reactors, developing and participating in countless nuclear materials reprocessing methods. From the 1960s to 1990s ORNL’s mission evolved to pioneer genetics research and the biological effects of radiation, ecological research regarding environmental effects, the safety of nuclear power plants, and alternative energy. The lab continues to be synonymous with atomic energy and cutting-edge science.
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