Fewer former Hanford workers than expected are applying for a new program that would pay $150,000 to workers or their survivors if those workers suffered cancer caused by on-the-job radiation exposure.

Nationally, the Department of Labor has received 14,500 claims from nuclear workers and some uranium miners in the first four months of the program. But the applicants include just 575 from Benton and Franklin counties.

"We expected Hanford to be the largest single site for claims," said Pete Turcic, director of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Task Force for the Department of Labor.

Labor officials aren't sure why more former Hanford workers are not filing claims, he said. During a visit here last week to consider the program's slow start, he heard several theories.

One possibility is that some former workers, proud of the job they did at Hanford, consider applying for compensation unpatriotic.

If that's the case, federal officials hope those people will reconsider and get the money they may be due.

"This is an entitlement the government is providing for the patriotic people who worked at these sites for fighting and helping win the Cold War," Turcic said.

Others may doubt the payments will actually be made.

"We (need to) convince people this is not a paperwork exercise and benefits are going to be paid," he said. "We try to make it as easy as possible."

The Energy Compensation Resource Center in Kennewick will complete the initial paperwork for applicants, either in person or by taking information on the phone and mailing it to them for a signature.

However, applicants, some of them in their 80s or 90s, must apply for their medical records themselves. In some cases, doctors who made the initial diagnosis and would have records may be retired or deceased. The government also may want letters of explanation from the doctors.

"The Department of Labor has assured us people need to make a diligent effort, but they realize records may no longer exist," said Eunice Godfrey, resource center manager.

Medical records are used to determine whether there is at least a 50 percent chance that cancer was caused by radiation exposure, which would entitle former workers to compensation. To help make that decision, the government would like to have details such as how long after exposure the cancer was diagnosed and where in the body it first appeared.

Although the Kennewick resource center cannot gather medical records for applicants, it has information on doctors and can suggest ways to get records that might be helpful.

The office also is trying to reach more people who might be eligible.

It has posted information in senior centers, pharmacies and grocery stores, and in a few cases visited the homes of people too frail to come to the resource center. It's also given information to current Hanford workers, knowing that some families have had two or three generations of workers at the site.

The office also sent notices to 5,000 retirees of Fluor, Westinghouse, Rockwell and GE but got fewer than 50 responses.

Most claims for compensation are coming from Oak Ridge, Tenn., another nuclear site, and some smaller sites that, like Oak Ridge, had gaseous diffusion plants. Workers at those plants fall under a looser set of rules for compensation because radiation exposure records there may be poor.

However, because of the large number of employees who have worked at Hanford since 1943, federal officials expected more claims from workers here.

A University of Washington former worker screening program estimates the number of former workers at Hanford at more than 100,000. Department of Energy budget records show most years more than 10,000 people were employed at Hanford, with twice that many during some years.

A large number of them could be expected to have cancer, based on how common cancer is in the overall population. The American Cancer Society says one in two men and one in three women can expect to get cancer in their lifetimes.

"If they worked at Hanford and had or have cancer, we encourage them to apply," Godfrey said. "We don't want to raise unrealistic expectations, but they won't know whether the reconstruction will determine that their cancer was caused by radiation if they don't file."

While 575 claims have been filed from Benton and Franklin counties, many other former Hanford workers would have moved away and filed claims from elsewhere. But that still doesn't account for the apparently low number of claims from the West.

The Western regional office in Seattle has received 2,211 claims, which would include not only Hanford claims, but also claims from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and workers exposed to nuclear bomb testing in Nevada and Alaska.

In addition to claims for cancer, workers also can apply for compensation for lung diseases caused by beryllium or silica. Besides the $150,000, workers who are ill now would also get their medical costs paid retroactive to the date they filed a claim.

No cancer claims for Hanford workers have been paid, but Turcic said the first ones could be paid as soon as this summer. Before claims can be considered, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health must finish formulas and procedures for determining if radiation caused cancer in individual cases. Information on the proposed rules is at www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/42cfr81.html on the Internet.

Now only spouses of deceased workers and dependents -- such as children who were supported by the worker at the time of death -- may apply for compensation. However, Congress is expected to consider legislation to allow adult children to apply if there is no surviving spouse to claim the benefits.

For more information on applying, call the resource center at 509-783-1500.