Over the past few years there has been an increase in the number of workers at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant outside Amarillo who’ve been compensated and treated for exposure to plant hazards. Pantex workers have been exposed to a number of harmful substances, according to Insurance Journal. These substances include chemicals in the maintenance warehouse, toxins on a production line and beryllium, a cancer-causing metal used in the production of nuclear warheads.
In the past, about 20 percent of the worker claims for compensation were approved. Now about half of the claims are being approved for workers across the 16,000-acre site. Workers filing claims include auditors, firefighters, laboratory workers, janitors and security guards. Since 2000, about $171 million in compensation and medical bills has been paid more than 1,300 workers and families. Pantex is the nation’s top facility for nuclear weapon assembly, disassembly and maintenance.
