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Pa. Radiation Suit Settles for $27.5 Million

A federal judge has approved a $27.5 million settlement of a lawsuit alleging that hundreds of Apollo, Pa., residents were exposed to radiation from two uranium processing plants for almost 30 years.

The facilities, located 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, were owned and operated at different times between 1957 and 1986 by Babcock & Wilcox Co. and Atlantic Richfield Co. and then decommissioned and leveled in the late 1980s.

This settlement involves only Atlantic Richfield.

Residents living near the plants sued both companies in federal court in 1994, claiming that harmful emissions from the facilities caused them to develop cancer and other health problems.

In 1998 a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania awarded eight bellwether plaintiffs $36.7 million.

A year later the court tossed the jury verdict, saying testimony about Apollo residents' other non-related cancers should not have been admitted.

U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose ordered a new trial, which had yet to be scheduled when Atlantic Richfield settled the case.

The settlement does not affect the plaintiffs' claims against Babcock & Wilcox, which filed for bankruptcy in 2000.

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The plaintiffs are represented by Frederick Baron of Baron & Budd in Dallas.Atlantic Richfield is represented by Robert Heim of Dechert LLP in Philadelphia.