The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was expanded earlier this summer, and leaders in St. Louis County are attempting to make it easier to access the application.

The act compensates individuals who develop cancers or other diseases due to radiation exposure from U.S. nuclear weapons testing or from uranium mining.

The program, which had been dormant since 2024, now includes ZIP codes throughout the St. Louis region for the first time. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was successful in expanding RECA to extend coverage to current and former residents who were exposed to radioactive waste produced by the Manhattan Project, or those who have lived close to Coldwater Creek.

A ZIP code in the Metro East that also contained a factory that processed uranium and thorium did not make it into

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