I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3481

To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program 

Act of 2000 to include certain former nuclear weapons program workers 

in the Special Exposure Cohort under the energy employees occupational 

illness compensation program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2005

Mr. REYNOLDS (for himself, Mr. HIGGINS, and Ms. SLAUGHTER) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 

and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to include certain former 

nuclear weapons program workers in the Special Exposure Cohort under the energy employees occupational 

illness compensation program.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) employees working on Cold War-era nuclear 

2 weapons were employed in hundreds of facilities 

3 owned by the Federal Government and private sector 

4 producing and processing radioactive materials for 

5 use in the nuclear weapons program of the United 

6 States beginning in the mid-1940’s; 

7 (2) those atomic workers helped to build the 

8 nuclear arsenal that served as a deterrent to the So9 viet Union during the Cold War, but many paid a 

10 high price in terms of their health; 

11 (3) during the Cold War, many atomic workers 

12 were exposed to radiation and placed in harm’s way 

13 by the Department of Energy and contractors, sub14 contractors, and vendors of the Department—

15 (A) without the knowledge and consent of 

16 the workers; 

17 (B) without adequate radiation monitoring; 

18 and 

19 (C) without necessary protections from in20 ternal or external occupational radiation expo21 sures; 

22 (4) due to the inequities posed by the factors 

23 described in paragraph (3) and the resulting poten24 tial harm, Congress legislatively designated classes 

25 of Cold War-era workers at the Paducah, Kentucky, 
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1 Portsmouth, Ohio, Oak Ridge K–25, and the Am2 chitka Island test sites as members of the Special 

3 Exposure Cohort under the Energy Employees Occu4 pational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

5 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.); 

6 (5)(A) the contribution of the State of New 

7 York to the security of the United States throughout 

8 the Cold War was very significant; and 

9 (B) New York is home to 36 former atomic 

10 weapons employer facilities and sites of the Depart11 ment of Energy that produced and processed radio12 active materials, carried out classified research, op13 erated nuclear reactors, and processed high level nu14 clear waste, 14 of which are located in the western 

15 region of New York; 

16 (6) research by the Department of Energy, the 

17 National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

18 Health, the Advisory Board on Radiation and Work19 er Health, and congressional committees indicates 

20 that—

21 (A) workers at certain facilities were not 

22 adequately monitored for internal or external 

23 exposures to ionizing radiation to which the 

24 workers were exposed during the 1940’s to 

25 1960’s; and 
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1 (B) at other facilities, records were not 

2 maintained, are not reliable, or fail to measure 

3 the radioactive isotopes to which workers were 

4 exposed; 

5 (7) at Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna, New 

6 York, an atomic weapons employer facility (as de7 fined in section 3621 of the Energy Employees Oc8 cupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 

9 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384l)), no personal radiation do10 simetry monitoring records are available; 

11 (8) if it is determined that it is not feasible to 

12 estimate radiation dose with sufficient accuracy and 

13 there is a reasonable likelihood that a class of work14 ers may have been endangered, the Secretary of 

15 Health and Human Services is authorized, after re16 ceiving advice from the Advisory Board on Radiation 

17 and Worker Health, to designate additional classes 

18 of workers as members of the Special Exposure Co19 hort under section 3626 of the Energy Employees 

20 Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 

21 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384q); 

22 (9) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv23 ices promulgated regulations on May 28, 2004, to 

24 establish procedures for classes of individuals to pe-
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1 tition for membership in the Special Exposure Co2 hort; 

3 (10) section 3626(b) of the Energy Employees 

4 Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 

5 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384q(b)) provides for the designa6 tion of an additional class of employees in the Spe7 cial Exposure Cohort if it is not feasible to estimate 

8 with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 

9 class received and there is a reasonable likelihood 

10 that the radiation dose may have endangered the 

11 health of members of the class; and 

12 (11) legislation is needed to provide additional 

13 parameters to the Secretary of Health and Human 

14 Services and the Advisory Board on Radiation and 

15 Worker Health for evaluating petitions for the Spe16 cial Exposure Cohort in cases in which there is lim17 ited or nonexistent individual radiation exposure 

18 monitoring or an absence of records. 
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1 SEC. 2. ADDITION OF CLASSES OF FORMER NUCLEAR 

2 WEAPONS PROGRAM WORKERS IN THE SPE3 CIAL EXPOSURE COHORT UNDER ENERGY 

4 EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS COM5 PENSATION PROGRAM. 

6 Section 3626(b) of the Energy Employees Occupa7 tional Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 

8 U.S.C. 7384q(b)) is amended—

9 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(1)’’; 

10 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as subpara11 graph (B); 

12 (3) by striking the period at the end and insert13 ing ‘‘; or’’; and 

14 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(2)(A) subject to subparagraph (B), in the 

16 case of a class of employees employed at an atomic 

17 weapons employer facility or a Department of En18 ergy facility during a period (in the aggregate) of at 

19 least 250 days (or a shorter duration connected to 

20 discrete events, as determined by the Secretary) dur21 ing which—

22 ‘‘(i) the employees in the class had the po23 tential for exposure to occupational ionizing ra24 diation from production or processing materials 

25 related to atomic weapons, or engaged in re26 search, development, testing, assembly, dis-
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1 assembly, decontamination, decommissioning, or 

2 waste management, or work related to such ac3 tivities; and 

4 ‘‘(ii)(I) fewer than 50 percent of the em5 ployees in the class were individually monitored 

6 on a regular basis (using reliable methods and 

7 procedures) under a formal health physics pro8 gram for exposure to internal and external ion9 izing radiation for the types of radiation and 

10 specific radioactive isotopes to which the em11 ployees had the potential for exposure during 

12 the period when the employees were exposed; 

13 ‘‘(II) individual internal and external expo14 sure records for the types of radiation and spe15 cific radioactive isotopes to which the employees 

16 in the class were potentially exposed at the fa17 cility during the period when the employees 

18 were exposed are nonexistent or are not avail19 able; or 

20 ‘‘(III) to the extent that a portion of indi21 vidual internal or external records are available 

22 for the period from the facility, individual radi23 ation doses cannot be reliably determined for 

greater than 2 24 ⁄3 of the employees in the class 
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1 using the individual internal and external moni2 toring records from the facility; and 

3 ‘‘(B) in the case of a class of employees em4 ployed at a facility for which the National Institute 

5 for Occupational Safety and Health has updated the 

6 report and made the determination described in sec7 tion 3169(b)(4) of the Ronald W. Reagan National 

8 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 

9 (Public Law 108–375; 42 U.S.C. 7384 note) during 

10 a period determined under the report, during which 

11 (as determined by the Secretary) the employees at 

12 the facility met the criteria described in clauses (i) 

13 and (ii) of subparagraph (A).’’. 

14 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 

17 Human Services shall modify the regulations and proce18 dures of the Secretary relating to the Special Exposure 

19 Cohort under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

20 Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384 et 

21 seq.) to conform the regulations and procedures to section 

22 3626(b)(2) of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

23 Compensation Program Act of 2000 (as amended by sec24 tion 2). 

25 (b) BETHLEHEM STEEL SITE.—
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1 (1) INITIATION OF PETITION.—Not later than 

2 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

3 Secretary of Health and Human Services shall ini4 tiate a petition to include workers employed at the 

5 Bethlehem Steel site in Lackawanna, New York as 

6 a class to be included in the Special Exposure Co7 hort in accordance with section 3626(b)(2) of the 

8 Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensa9 tion Program Act of 2000 (as amended by section 

10 2). 

11 (2) EVALUATION.—The evaluation of the peti12 tion shall be conducted in accordance with section 

13 3626 of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 

14 Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 

15 7384q). 

16 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

17 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 

18 Human Services shall submit to Congress a report that 

19 identifies the facilities, classes, and the number of claim20 ants in each class who meet the criteria established under 

21 section 3626(b)(2) of the Energy Employees Occupational 

22 Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (as amended 

23 by section 2) for membership in the Special Exposure Co24 hort.

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