Federal Radiation Compensation Approvals Reach $909 Million, With More Than 50,000 Claims Pending

The U.S. Department of Justice has approved $909.4 million in radiation exposure compensation under a federal claims program renewed and expanded in 2025, but more than 50,000 applications are still awaiting decisions. The October 30 figures show substantial awards alongside a far larger pool of unresolved claims.

The department reports 63,975 claims received under the amended Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, known as RECA. It has approved 13,042, denied 223 and classified 50,710 as pending. The $909,414,184 figure represents compensation approved, not necessarily money already disbursed. The public tally does not say how much of the authorized compensation has reached recipients.

The breakdown appears in the Justice Department’s October 30 claims and awards report, which tracks filings under Public Law 119-21 separately from cases submitted before July 2025. That distinction matters: the latest $909 million total is not the lifetime value of all awards issued under RECA, and the new claims count should not be read as the program’s full history.

Downwinder and Manhattan Project cases dominate pending claims

Two groups account for nearly the entire unresolved caseload. There are 29,197 pending downwinder claims and 19,747 pending Manhattan Project waste claims. Together, those 48,944 applications represent about 96.5% of the 50,710 claims awaiting a decision. The remaining pending cases comprise 1,645 uranium worker claims and 121 onsite participant claims.

Downwinder cases concern people who developed specified cancers after living in areas covered by the law’s provisions for radiation from atmospheric nuclear testing. The Justice Department has received 34,770 claims in this category under the amended law, approved 5,511 and denied 62. Approved downwinder compensation totals $551.1 million, more than half the $909.4 million authorized across the four categories.

The Manhattan Project waste category has generated 26,950 claims, including 7,087 approvals, 116 denials and 19,747 pending applications. Approved compensation for this group stands at $314.025 million. These claims concern qualifying illnesses among people who lived, worked or attended school in designated areas affected by waste from the Manhattan Project, rather than claims based solely on presence near a nuclear test.

The other two categories are considerably smaller in the updated figures. Uranium workers have 357 approved claims worth $35.7 million, five denials and 1,645 claims pending. For onsite participants, the department records 87 approvals worth $8,589,184, with 40 denials and 121 pending. The awards and unresolved counts vary sharply by claimant category, as do the rules governing eligibility and compensation.

The reported 98.3% overall approval rate also needs a careful reading. The Justice Department calculates it from claims already disposed of: 13,042 approvals compared with 223 denials. It is not the share of all 63,975 submitted claims that have been approved. Roughly four out of five filings remain pending, so the disposition rate cannot establish the outcome those applicants will eventually receive.

Older RECA filings form a separate part of the same federal report. For claims received before July 3, 2025, the department lists 42,599 approvals and about $2.74 billion in authorized compensation, with just two cases still pending. Keeping the two groups separate avoids presenting the amended program’s relatively recent wave of claims as though it were the complete history of federal radiation compensation.

Expanded law covers new places and several types of exposure

Congress renewed RECA through legislation enacted on July 4, 2025, and changed eligibility for several categories. The law provides partial restitution to people with specified serious illnesses linked by the statutory criteria to the U.S. nuclear weapons program, as well as qualifying survivors. It is not a general payment to everyone who lived near a test site or handled radioactive material.

For downwinders, the amended coverage includes Idaho, New Mexico and Utah, together with specified counties and areas in Arizona and Nevada. Qualifying periods differ by location, with the rules covering particular periods between 1944 and 1962. Applicants must also establish a qualifying cancer diagnosis. An approved downwinder claim generally carries a $100,000 lump-sum award, which survivors may share when the affected person has died.

The program also covers certain participants present at U.S. atmospheric nuclear detonations before 1963 who later developed specified diseases. Qualifying onsite participants may receive $100,000, subject to an offset for Veterans Affairs benefits paid for the same illness. Uranium worker provisions reach covered mining, milling, drilling, ore transport and remediation occupations, with work and disease requirements tied to designated locations and periods extending through 1990. The standard award for a qualifying uranium worker is also $100,000.

Manhattan Project waste claims use a different framework. The law identifies specific ZIP codes in Missouri, Tennessee, Alaska and Kentucky and generally requires at least two years of qualifying presence after January 1, 1949, followed by a covered illness. For a qualifying person alive when the claim is filed, compensation is the greater of $50,000 or documented, unreimbursed medical expenses related to the illness. Where the affected person was deceased at filing, the specified survivor benefit is $25,000. That structure helps explain why the number of approved waste claims and the total dollars approved do not move in the same proportion as downwinder awards.

RECA is intended as a non-adversarial alternative to litigation, and applicants do not have to prove that radiation directly caused their particular illness. That does not remove the evidentiary requirements. Medical records, historical residence or work records, covered dates and the precise eligibility criteria still determine whether a claim qualifies. These differences also make it inappropriate to infer that a high approval rate among completed cases guarantees approval of the pending applications.

Approved awards rise as the backlog continues to grow

Both approvals and unresolved claims increased during October. On September 30, the department had recorded 11,576 approvals worth $810,089,184 under the amended law, against 46,794 pending cases and 58,436 total filings. By October 30, approvals had increased by 1,466 and their value by $99.325 million. Yet the number of pending applications grew by another 3,916, while total claims received increased by 5,539.

The comparison shows that new applications have continued to add to the caseload even as the department issues decisions. It does not, by itself, establish why some cases remain open or how long a typical applicant must wait. The published counts are cumulative snapshots, without a detailed processing-time measure or a schedule showing when the outstanding applications will be resolved.

The Justice Department has acknowledged high application volumes in its program guidance. It warns that letters confirming receipt of a claim may be delayed, and says revised regulations are being prepared during 2026. Where possible, the program is continuing to use existing rules while the updated regulations are developed. Those notices describe the administration of claims but should not be treated as a forecast of how quickly the current backlog will clear.

Applicants can submit claims through the department’s electronic RECA portal or by mailing the relevant form with supporting documents; emailed applications are not accepted. The required evidence can include records of residence, employment or test participation and medical documentation of the covered diagnosis. The agency may request original or certified records even when scans have been uploaded electronically.

The filing deadline is December 31, 2027. It applies to new submissions under the renewed program, even as the Justice Department continues to decide claims already in its inventory.