Notifying the RECA when someone dies

All RECA claims must be filed by December 31, 2027. This deadline applies to all four claimant categories: Downwinders, Onsite Participants, Uranium Workers, and Manhattan Project Waste claimants.

For Downwinders, Onsite Participants, and Uranium Workers, RECA pays a one-time lump sum of $100,000, divided in equal shares among eligible survivors when the original eligible individual is deceased. For the Manhattan Project Waste category, RECA pays a deceased applicant's surviving spouse $25,000, or equal shares of $25,000 to surviving children if there is no surviving spouse. Onsite Participant awards are offset by any VA payments received for the same illness.

Affected Downwinder areas include the entire states of Idaho, New Mexico, and Utah. In Arizona, the counties of Coconino, Yavapai, Navajo, Apache, Gila, and Mohave qualify. In Nevada, the counties of White Pine, Nye, Lander, Lincoln, and Eureka qualify, plus Clark County townships 13 through 16 at ranges 63 through 71. The deceased must have been physically present in one of these areas during a specified period of atmospheric nuclear testing.

The Manhattan Project Waste category was added by Pub. L. 119-21 in July 2025. It compensates individuals (or their survivors) who developed a covered illness after living, working, or attending school for at least 2 years after January 1, 1949 in designated ZIP codes in Missouri, Tennessee, Alaska, and Kentucky affected by Manhattan Project waste contamination. The full list of qualifying ZIP codes is published on the Department of Justice RECA page.

For Downwinders, Onsite Participants, and Manhattan Project Waste claimants, compensable diseases include leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia), multiple myeloma, lymphomas (other than Hodgkin's disease), and primary cancers of the thyroid, breast, esophagus, stomach, pharynx, small intestine, pancreas, bile ducts, gall bladder, salivary gland, urinary bladder, brain, colon, ovary, liver (with exceptions), and lung. For Uranium Workers, compensable diseases include lung cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, fibrosis of the lung, silicosis, pneumoconiosis, cor pulmonale related to fibrosis of the lung, renal cancer, and other chronic renal diseases including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue injury.

Determine which RECA category applies, gather supporting documentation (death certificate, proof of residence or employment, medical records, identification, and proof of relationship), and either file electronically through the RECA Claim Portal at reca.justice.gov or download the appropriate claim form and mail it with certified supporting documents to the RECA Program at P.O. Box 146, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044-0146. The Civil Division cannot accept emailed applications.

No. RECA was designed as a non-adversarial alternative to litigation and does not require claimants to prove causation. A claim qualifies for compensation by establishing a diagnosis of a compensable disease after the individual worked or resided in a designated location for the required period.

Call the RECA Program toll-free at 1-800-729-7327, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, or email Civil.RECA@usdoj.gov. Rural health clinics participating in the Health Resources and Services Administration's National Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program (RESEP) in Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico also provide medical screening at no cost and may assist with RECA and EEOICPA claims.