Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Information
Published on January 30, 2026
Program Summary
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), 42 U.S.C. § 2210 note, is a federal law that provides partial restitution to individuals who developed certain serious illnesses following exposure to radiation from the U.S. nuclear weapons program, or their survivors. RECA was reauthorized under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Pub. L. 119-21, enacted on July 4, 2025.
This unique statute was designed as a non-adversarial alternative to litigation. RECA does not require claimants to prove causation. Rather, claimants qualify for compensation by establishing a diagnosis of a compensable disease after working or residing in a designated location for a specific period. RECA assigned responsibility to the Attorney General to establish procedures and make determinations regarding whether claims satisfy the statutory eligibility criteria.
Regulations implementing RECA are published at 28 C.F.R. Part 7. These regulations establish procedures designed to use existing records so that claims can be resolved in a reliable, objective, and non-adversarial manner, quickly and with little administrative cost to the United States or to the person filing the claim.
US Dept. of Justice - RECA
New Mexicans...
The RECA Program provides a one-time payment of $100,000 to individuals affected by radiation exposure from the Trinity and other nuclear tests. RECA compensation is now available to New Mexico downwinders and post '71 uranium workers.
Congresswoman Leger Fernandez introduced the RECA Amendments Act in 2021. She led the U.S. House of Representatives effort to expand RECA to cover New Mexico downwinders post ’71 uranium miners alongside Senator Ben Ray Lujan, the New Mexico congressional delegation, and New Mexico advocates.
Note: Rather than submitting medical records to prove that you had a qualifying cancer, you may check the box on the application form to authorize DOJ to contact the New Mexico Tumor Registry on your behalf. Then, the Tumor Registry can verify that you had the qualifying disease. The Tumor Registry has records for New Mexicans diagnosed with cancer after 1973. If you were diagnosed between 1966 and 1973, the Tumor Registry has only partial records.
To learn more and see if you qualify, visit the U.S. Dept. of Justice page at the link above, or the New Mexico information page at the link below.
New Mexico RECA Information