At the time of its establishment, BNFL and its trade unions agreed that the causation of cancer by radiation was sufficiently well understood that "it should be possible to construct a scheme which would evaluate the probability that a diagnosed cancer may have been caused by radiation exposure at work."
For compensation the claimant must have developed cancer in any of 16 tissues/organs covered by the scheme (bladder, breast, bone, brain and central nervous system, breast, uterus, colon, liver, oesophagus, lung, prostate, ovary, skin, thyroid, leukaemia and non-specific other tissue sites.
Some diseases are excluded on the basis that there is no convincing epidemiological evidence to link them with ionising radiation exposure.
[2][5] The current Trade unions are The scheme reflects the latest scientific/technical knowledge in the assessment of causation probability.
Once diagnosed with or deceased from an eligible disease, the worker or surviving family members have 30 years in which to make a claim.
Once made, claims are assessed on consideration of medical, employment and dosimetry histories and data.
The level of payment awarded to a claimant (or estate if deceased) is determined by the "causation probability".