Nuclear Worker With Colon Cancer Gets $150,000 From New Federal Program

Tim Gannon, who was dignosed in 1999 with colon cancer,has become the first living worker to receive a $150,000 benefit from a federal worker's compensation program for sick nuclear workers.

Gannon, a 20-year worker as a process operator at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, has been living without health insurance since he lost his job three months ago.

The Department of Labor is giving the $150,000 lump-sum payments to former workers, or if they are deceased to their surviving family members, who have certain types of cancer and who worked at plants before 1992.

Under the new program, medical expenses since July 31st will be covered but Gannon must be approved under Ohio's workers' compensation law to recoup medical expenses he incurred before then.

Other sources:AP