Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the challenge of contractors in the Hanford downwinders case, the best course for all involved is to work on a long-overdue settlement for victims of radiation produced at the former nuclear weapons site. Taxpayers also have a significant interest in this, because they’re picking up the legal costs for the defendants and the plaintiffs.

To recap this tortuous case, the government took shortcuts in the race to produce the plutonium necessary for the atomic bomb, which effectively ended World War II. But this Manhattan Project undertaking resulted in radiation being released from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and carried downwind. The government knew of the threat, but it felt pressured to push forward for fear that enemies would produce the bomb first.

The government cannot in good conscience turn its back on the victims. As U.S. District Court Judge William F. Nielsen has said: “If injury to some was the necessary price for a benefit to the many, the just course is to be glad of the benefit while compensating the injured.”

However, efforts to compensate victims have been tied up for decades. Cases have been in litigation for 18 years. Before that, the government kept secret its knowledge of the dangerous exposure to downwind residents. It wasn’t until 1986 that a government report was declassified, which led to a study concluding that people living near Hanford in the 1940s and 1950s were at risk for cancer and other illnesses.

In the latest ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the arguments of contractors, who said the statute of limitations had run out and that they shouldn’t be held liable for work done under the auspices of the federal government. So the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling against the contractors stands, which means litigation can move forward. But it would be better if a settlement could be reached, because that would preclude taking numerous cases to trial. The number of victims is potentially as high as 2,000.

The contractors have a longstanding offer to victims, but the payouts are relatively small given the nature of the illnesses: $150,000 for thyroid cancer patients and lesser amounts for patients with less serious problems. For comparison purposes, a hospital just agreed to give actor Dennis Quaid and his wife $750,000 for giving their newborn twins an overdose of blood thinners. The babies are fine now.

The government is already running up tens of millions of dollars in legal fees, and those costs would explode if these cases are litigated individually.

The feds need to step up and find a compromise between what could be awarded at trials and what contractors are offering. The legal maneuvering to avoid responsibility has gone on long enough.