Hawley Op-Ed: RECA Compensation Soars Past $100 Million, Overdue Justice for Missourians

Hawley Op-Ed: RECA Compensation Soars Past $100 Million, Overdue Justice for Missourians

Monday, June 08, 2026

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) authored the following op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch following a major milestone for his expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which began paying out benefits to survivors and their families in Missouri last year. Read the full op-ed here or below.

Our state just passed a major milestone. The federal government has now paid out more than $100 million to the Missouri families poisoned by their government's reckless handling of nuclear waste. Nothing can make up for the pain and suffering that radiation survivors have endured at the hands of their own government. But this compensation, made possible by the expanded Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), provides a measure of relief- and a measure of justice. The application window is still open, and my office stands ready to assist survivors with their claims.

Missourians from across the St. Louis region who have received RECA compensation - often a lump sum payment of $50,000 - have shared their experiences with my office. One constituent from St. Charles wrote to me recently to describe the difference RECA has made in her life: "The RECA payment is helping with paying for my cancer treatment that Medicare doesn't cover. I am no longer so stressed knowing I have the extra money so when I do finally leave this Earth, I hopefully won't leave my husband with a boatload of debt for my cancer care." Another from Warrenton called it "a true blessing to my income to comfortably live out my final years." Survivors have waited a long time for this relief.

The story of RECA begins between World War II and the end of the Cold War, when the U.S. government oversaw a sprawling network of nuclear research, production, and waste sites. Because these were spread across the country, dozens of communities from Alaska to Tennessee were affected and have suffered huge spikes in cancer and other radiation-related diseases.

Missouri was one such place. It played a crucial role in the Manhattan Project- nearly all the uranium that was used for the first atomic bombs was dumped in downtown St. Louis in the 1940s. Over the years, it leached out, contaminating the environment and poisoning local residents. For generations, Missourians in affected parts of St. Louis and St. Charles counties have suffered from dramatically elevated rates of cancer as a result.

The worst part? The federal government refused to acknowledge its wrongdoing. For decades, the government covered up the harms that it had done to Missourians and citizens across the nation. Meanwhile, the residents of St. Louis were living in contaminated homes and sending their children to contaminated schools.

It wasn't until 1990 that Congress started to remedy this injustice. Senator Orrin Hatch's Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) passed that year, establishing a fund to compensate Americans who had been poisoned. This was an important accomplishment-but it was only a first step. Coverage was limited to certain counties in the Southwest that had been exposed to fallout from nuclear tests. Not included were the other places where radioactive material had been improperly processed, stored, and ultimately disposed.

Congress finally passed my expanded version of RECA in July of last year covering Missouri and other states that had been left out of the original program. As a result, residents from our state who have struggled for decades with radiation-linked disease and-in some tragic cases-watched their loved ones pass away now qualify for compensation.

This issue goes beyond politics. A RECA claimant from the area wrote me, "I don't think I could disagree with you more on most political issues. That being said, I can't thank you enough for your support for extending the RECA claims to Missouri." He continued to explain that his wife recently had a double mastectomy and is currently undergoing chemo treatments. "Because of her age, breast cancer is an anomaly because she has no family history of it," he wrote, "But she grew up in Ferguson next to Coldwater Creek. This was most likely the cause of her cancer."

Tens of thousands more are eligible for RECA compensation. Missourians who have lived, worked, or attended school near Coldwater Creek or Weldon Spring in the St. Louis metro area may qualify for compensation. My office is dedicated to helping all affected Missourians apply; if you or someone you know believes they may be eligible, I encourage you to call my RECA hotline at (202) 228-4388 or visit Hawley.senate.gov/RECA. The time to apply is now. The wait is finally over.

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