Current and former nuclear weapons industry workers in Lockport, N.Y., Lynchburg, Va., and Texas City, Texas were added to the Special Exposure Cohort of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) this week, according to the Department of Labor (DOL), which says the action is part of an ongoing effort to reach workers at smaller covered sites who may not realize they are eligible.

The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to workers who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. Survivors of qualified workers may also be entitled to benefits.

A worker who is included in a designated SEC class of employees, and who is diagnosed with one of 22 specified cancers, may receive a presumption of causation under the EEOICPA. The Labor Department's role is to adjudicate these claims based on the new SEC class definitions as determined and introduced by HHS.

The department also notified current and former atomic weapons industry employees at 22 covered facilities in or near Chicago, Ill., that benefits may be available to them under EEOICPA.