PASCO -- Less than 10 percent of former Hanford construction workers who likely would qualify for compensation for illnesses have applied to a federal program, said a Building Trades National Medical Screening Program official.

Representatives of the program held a meeting in Pasco on Wednesday night to discuss the screening and a Department of Labor program that provides compensation for Hanford workers who developed illnesses because of exposure to radiation or hazardous chemicals at the nuclear reservation. Nearly 100 attended.

As many as 25,000 former Hanford building trades workers may have developed illnesses covered by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, said Knut Ringen, principal investigator for the building trades screening program. But he estimated that less than 10 percent of those have applied.

The compensation program pays $150,000 in compensation for cancers likely caused by radiation exposure and up to $250,000 for wage loss and impairment caused by exposure to toxic substances, which could include radiation, chemicals, solvents, acids and metals. Medical expenses are covered, and if workers have died, their survivors may be eligible for compensation.

The program has paid out about $420 million to former Hanford workers, including production workers, Ringen said. The claims approval rate was helped significantly by new eased rules for workers who developed cancer. About 1,000 claims were paid under the eased rules that otherwise would not have been.

The rules were eased for large groups of workers whose radiation exposure was impossible to estimate. The federal government is expected to expand those groups, called special exposure cohorts, to cover all Hanford workers employed for at least 250 days from Oct. 1, 1943, through June 30, 1972, who developed any of about 20 cancers.

In addition, Congress is expected to consider a bill in December that would expand eased rules for workers through 2005 and cover three additional cancers.

A good way for building trades workers to lay the foundation for whether they have a probable claim in the compensation program is to participate in the voluntary building trades screening program, Ringen said. The screenings also can help workers catch health problems early.

Workers are interviewed about where they worked at Hanford and then are scheduled for a free medical screening, which includes a physical exam. Screenings are done in Kennewick, along with many other sites across the nation.

The screenings check for problems that may be related to working at Hanford and general medical conditions. Workers are encouraged to be rechecked every three years.

About 2,700 Hanford building trades workers have been screened in the program out of an eligible population of about 109,000 -- about half of those who were at Hanford during World War II, Ringen said.

The screenings have found ample evidence that working at Hanford put workers' health at risk, he said. Rates of diseases linked to asbestos and a type of blood cancer linked to radiation are higher than in the general population.

About a third of those screened have some kind of lung disease, including about 3.5 percent with probable lung cancer. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is two to three times as high as in the general population. About 67 percent are diagnosed with work-related hearing loss.

But Ringen also has been encouraged by the number of workers screened in the program who are found to have blood pressure, cholesterol or blood glucose problems who then are successfully treated. Workers are given a letter describing the findings to take to their doctor.

Of those screened, about half who return to be rescreened have resolved the problem, Ringen said.

For information on the building trades screening program, call 783-6830 or 800-866-9663. For information about the compensation program, call 946-3333 or 888-654-0014.

More information also will be available when the National Day of Remembrance is observed at 11 a.m. Friday at the Richland Community Center, 500 Amon Park Drive. The ceremony is to honor past and present Hanford workers who have helped keep the nation safe.