Thousands of veterans who say they were sickened by radiation exposure during their military service have been denied federal benefits, the Department of Veterans Affairs said, as cancer and old age whittle the remaining number of survivors.

When the PACT Act was signed last August, expanding benefits to veterans exposed to toxic substances, more than 8,000 people who helped clean up radioactive sites became eligible to apply for monthly disability payments.

But a year later, the VA has rejected 86% of claims, according to data obtained by NBC News. The VA said that of the roughly 4,100 processed radiation-related claims, it denied more than 3,500 and granted about 570 from Aug. 10, 2022, to Aug. 10, 2023.

“They’re waiting for us to die,” said Kenneth Brownell, 66, who was one of the first soldiers sent to clean up Enewetak Atoll islands in the Pacific Ocean, where the U.S. conducted 43 nuclear tests from 1948 to 1958. 

Veterans with any other type of cancer or tumor have to provide expert medical reviews and organ-specific radiation dose assessments through the Defense Department’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

But it's "virtually impossible" to prove exposure through radiation dose estimates, said Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., an atomic historian, who last month introduced a bill that would lift that burden of proof.

Meanwhile, the population is only getting older, with the youngest atomic veterans now being 60 years old, according to the National Association of Atomic Veterans, a nonprofit advocacy group. The oldest known survivor is nearly 101.

"Time is not on their side,” Titus said.

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