Hatch wants radiation exposure review

SALT LAKE CITY, May 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says he wants a review of the science behind a government program paying people injured by exposure to nuclear radiation.

Hatch made the request in a letter Monday to the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. His communication with the board follows his recent questioning of legislation to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act as overly broad and too costly, the newspaper said.

"When I worked to enact the original RECA law to help Utahns exposed to radiation, the policy was based on scientific evidence -- an absolute must when you're talking about these types of programs," the Tribune quoted Hatch as saying Tuesday. "The goal of the letter to the National Academy of Sciences is to see whether or not new scientific data exists to justify expanding the RECA program; in the past it did not."

He said he wants the academy to examine existing data and talk with Utah radiation victims "before anyone puts more taxpayer dollars on the line."

Pending legislation would expand eligibility to those exposed to radiation from atomic testing fallout and the uranium industry in New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nevada.

So far, the program has paid nearly $1.5 billion to more than 22,000 people.