Group advocates for former plant workers

Peggy Scott received a flag during one of the Cold War Patriots meetings held in southern Ohio last month, but this wasn’t just any flag.

This flag had flown over the Capitol Building on Feb. 17.

Her husband, Jim Scott, died on Feb. 7 after working in the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant for more than 40 years. The Piketon County plant produced enriched uranium for defense and commercial uses until 2001. The plant was placed in cold shutdown in 2010 and is being cleaned and redeveloped for future use.

At its peak in the 1980s, the plant employed more than 3,000 people.

Jim Scott had been one of 40,000 members of the Cold War Patriots, a nonprofit group of former nuclear and uranium workers who helped build the nation’s nuclear supply. Through his membership, Scott became friends with Tim Lerew.

“Tim just took a liking to Jim and would stop when he could and visit him,” Peggy Scott said.

Lerew was having lunch with some U.S. senators when he learned of Jim Scott’s death. Lerew told the senators that Jim had died of illnesses he contracted while working at the plant. The senators responded by requesting that a flag be flown over the Capitol in Jim’s memory.

The Cold War Patriots, based in Denver, holds meetings around the country to help those who suffer from radiation exposure or know someone who has suffered from radiation exposure, as part of the group’s mission to advocate for workers’ rights. Lerew was in Portsmouth on May 16 and Piketon on May 17, when he and other members of the group gave Peggy Scott the flag.

Because of his connection with the Scott family, Lerew said, “I’m going to hang on to this memory for the rest of my life.”

The organization helps members with the resources needed to successfully navigate the two government programs created to help former radiation workers: the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

When the group was in southern Ohio, the conversation mainly focused on the illness compensation program. From 50 to 60 people attended the meetings.

Enacted in 2001, the program offers compensation and medical benefits to eligible Department of Energy nuclear weapons workers, as well as compensation to eligible survivors.

Heavy exposure to radiation can lead to an assortment of health problems for nuclear workers, including cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Parkinson’s disease and early onset Alzheimer’s.

“A lot of them gave their lives or health to do this,” said Frank Gerlach, an advocate from Portsmouth.

Sometimes, Tim Scott would come from work with his hands raw or his knees in pain, his wife said. Eventually he was diagnosed with prostate and bladder cancer.

“He went to work with a lot of disabilities,” Peggy Scott said.

People who have worked in plants such as the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant are proud and patriotic, Lerew said. “If they need to, many of them would do it again.”

When the Cold War Patriots travel around the country for the meetings, they sometimes get the opportunity to visit the homes of the people they are helping.

“It’s always a very special honor to actually meet with the workers themselves,” Lerew said.