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Ex-Nuclear Plant Workers Want Government Compensation

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By STEVE ANDREWS

News Channel 8

Published: May 6, 2008

TAMPA - John Pool wants to know why the U.S. Department of Labor is saying no.

Pool, 79, worked at the former General Electric Plant in Largo from 1970-73. The facility produced triggers for nuclear bombs, and former employees say they may have been exposed to radiation and carcinogenic chemicals.

Pool, a janitor, said he handled and disposed of classified waste. He said he worked in areas where workers used protective clothing during the day shift, although he wore no special equipment.

Pool said he is now battling cancer of the throat, kidney and prostate.

Although the government implemented an illness compensation program to cover former workers' medical expenses, Pool said he was denied benefits.

The Department of Labor is sending an ombudsman to meet with former plant employees this week to address concerns such as Pool's.

The meetings will be held Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in St. Petersburg, 12600 Roosevelt Blvd. N.

Pool said he will attend the meeting to get answers. He said the Department of Labor denied his claim based on a doctor's analysis.

Anne Block, who examined claims for the Department of Labor, said claimants should question denials because she found mistakes in 90 percent of the cases she examined.

Block said she thinks the person who examined Pool's case mistakenly sent him to the wrong doctor. Pool was sent to a neurologist and a psychiatrist.

"They should've went to an oncologist," Block said. "It's cancer. That's what they're there for."

Reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report. News Channel 8 reporter Steve Andrews can be reached at (813) 221-5779.

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