ST. GEORGE — Eight years ago, Carolyn Royce found out what it's like to experience a fear so real that it alone almost killed her.

"It was the worst day of my life," a trembling Royce tearfully told members of the National Academies of Science Board on Radiation Effects Research on Monday. "Whenever you hear somebody's got cancer, it's hard to have hope."

Royce was diagnosed with breast cancer and endured a lumpectomy, followed by six weeks of chemotherapy. While the cancer hasn't returned, Royce said, the fear that gripped her so fully has never left: "Every time I go to the oncologist, it's scary. It never gets easier."

Board members were in town for a 12-hour public hearing as they consider whether people living beyond the St. George area should be made eligible for financial compensation being paid to those with radiation-related illnesses caused by atomic testing. About 100 people attended, including Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.

Royce said she is certain her cancer was caused by fallout from U.S. military nuclear bomb testing in Nevada that drifted north to Juab County during the 1950s.

"I was exposed to radiation from the time I was 3 years old to when I was 10 years old. If only we could go back in time to change things, she said. "This was such a big mistake. Juab County needs to be part of the compensation plan."

"I want to thank each of you for coming today and for sharing your stories with us," said committee chairman Dr. Julian Preston, a board member and scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Carcinogenesis Division. "Everything is so well done and you've made it easy for us to understand. This will certainly help us in our work."

The hearing was billed as an information gathering session, with emphasis placed on listening. Public testimony will be used in developing the future scope of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) program.

Individuals diagnosed with specific types of cancer that was caused by exposure to radiation may qualify for financial compensation from the government under the act.

Critics of RECA argue that the act arbitrarily allocates funds for people in one county while not compensating other areas that received equal or higher levels of radiation.

According to the Healthy Environment Alliance, Utah and Nevada had excessively high concentrations, as did Idaho, Colorado, Montana, much of the Midwest, parts of Iowa, and New York.

A 15-year study by the National Cancer Institute published in 1997 concluded that one radioisotope — radioactive Iodine 131 — hit virtually every part of the country.

Many of those who spoke Monday public hearing begged the committee to include their type of cancer or their county in the compensation program.