House panel to probe Marshall Islands nuclear testing claims

A House Foreign Affairs subcommittee will examine a multi- billion-dollar set of claims by Marshall Islanders impacted by U.S. nuclear testing during the Cold War, including those stemming from Brookhaven National Laboratory's medical treatment of nuclear survivors.

The Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment has scheduled a May 20 hearing to review evidence that officials from BNL and other federal agencies allowed 250 people to return to Rongelap Atoll in the Pacific even though they knew the islands were still contaminated from a 1954 hydrogen bomb explosion.

In 2007, the Nuclear Claims Tribunal awarded $1 billion to Rongelap for damage to their lands and for being placed back on their contaminated island so government researchers could study them for "scientific and military concerns."

"There absolutely should be some sort of compensation for putting people back on a radioactive island - it's horrific," said Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Roslyn Heights), House Foreign Affairs Committee vice chairman.

Those invited to testify include Dr. Neal Palafox, a former Department of Energy physician who dealt with the radiation-related illnesses and deaths from the 67 nuclear bombs detonated in the Marshalls, and Bill Graham, the Tribunal advocate for Rongelap who won the case.

Both were featured in a Newsday series and documentary last August and are critical of BNL's actions.

A subcommittee spokesman said State Department or Energy officials are expected to testify, along with some Marshallese.

BNL officials said Tuesday they'd not be invited to the hearing. But in a statement posted on their website in August, the lab said BNL's purpose during its 43-year medical program in the Marshalls was "to treat radiation-related illnesses, collect samples for laboratory analyses, and measure radiation levels in the environment." The DOE replaced BNL with another medical team in 1998.