Cancer Research Center Planned

A new permanent center to help people who developed cancer or other diseases while working on nuclear weapons research is headed for the San Francisco Bay area.

The center will be set up to help those people apply for government benefits.

Representative Ellen Tauscher of Walnut Creek and Senator Dianne Feinstein both worked for the center over the objections of the Departments of Labor and Energy.

Those agencies administer the two-year-old Energy Employees Occupational Illness compensation program.

Legislation to set up the center is expected to pass before the end of the year. Tauscher says she wants it located in Livermore — near Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.

Under the program, employees or their survivors who developed cancers or other diseases can receive up to 150-thousand dollars in compensation, along with payment for medical expenses.