Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch have introduced a bipartisan bill to help downwinders sickened by Cold War-era nuclear-bomb testing.

The legislation would expand restitution for Americans exposed to weapons testing orfrom working in uranium mines. Both Crapo and Risch have sponsored similar bills for downwinders in Idaho and other states.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Amendments of 2010 would cover Idaho and six other states affected by testing in Nevada. The seven states are Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Utah. Currently, 21 counties in Arizona, Nevada and Utah are covered.

The amendments would triple compensatory payments to victims and their survivors from $50,000 to $150,000.

Crapo and Risch were joined by Demcocratic Sens. Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Colorado Democrats Michael Bennet and Mark Udall. Companion legislation will be introduced in the House this week by Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M.

Crapo first wrote a bill to add Idaho to RECA in 2005.

Enacted in 1990, RECA compensates victims of above-ground bomb tests between 1951 and 1962 and suffered any of 19 cancers covered by RECA. About 14,000 downwinders or their survivors have received $704 million to date.

In 1997, the National Cancer Institute released a study estimating fallout from iodine-131 in the Lower 48 states. The report said four Idaho counties - Gem, Blaine, Custer and Lemhi - ranked in the top five in the Lower 48 states for per capita thyroid dosage from bomb-related radiation. The other 40 Idaho counties all had higher thyroid dosage than some RECA-covered counties.

According a joint news release from the sponsors, the new bill also would widen qualifications for compensation for radiation exposure, qualify post-1971 uranium workers for compensation, and fund an epidemiological study of the health impacts on families of uranium workers and residents of uranium development communities.

“The victims of this testing have waited years for just compensation, and the cruel irony is that the federal government has postponed action for so long that many aren’t living to see this bill passed,” Crapo said in the release. “I remain optimistic that expanding the scope and reach of this program can succeed. It is the right thing to do because there are so many people affected throughout the region.”

“There is no doubt that Idahoans were impacted by nuclear testing done years ago. They deserve help for the health effects they have suffered and this bill is a way to provide that,” Risch said.