David Crete, a former Air Force security police officer at the Nevada Test and Training Range, added another name to his list of military employees and contractors who have died since working at the site used for nuclear testing.
No. 523, a 55-year-old man, died on Saturday from a lung disease, Crete said. Crete doesn't have the cause of death of each person on the list, but the same reasons come up repeatedly: cancer, heart attacks and neurological issues, he said Tuesday during an event at the National Atomic Testing Museum.
The average age of death on the list, Crete says, is 62. He's now 60.
While similar employees under the Department of Energy are covered by a decades-old law granting them medical treatment and compensation, it left out the workers under the Department of Defense.

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