Battelle Memorial Institute –

King Avenue

SEC Petition Evaluation Report SEC00208

Timothy D. Taulbee

Research Health Scientist

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Division of Compensation Analysis and Support

December 2012

Knoxville, Tennessee
Petition Overview

 NIOSH determined it was not feasible to 

complete the dose reconstruction for an existing 

Battelle Memorial Insititute – King Avenue claim

 On October 18, 2012, claimant notified and 

provided with a copy of Special Exposure Cohort 

(SEC) Petition Form A

 October 25, 2012: Petition (83.14) submitted to 

NIOSH

 November 19, 2012: NIOSH Evaluation Report 

issued 
Proposed Class

All Atomic Weapons Employees who worked at the 

King Avenue facility owned by Battelle Laboratories 

in Columbus, Ohio, during the period from April 16, 

1943 through June 30, 1956, for a number of work 

days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring 

either solely under this employment or in 

combination with work days within the parameters 

established for one or more other classes of 

employees included in the Special Exposure Cohort 
Background

 EEOICPA covered facility from 1943-1986 (Atomic 

Weapons Employer-AWE)

 The 58.3-acre site, accommodating 13 buildings 

bordered by King Avenue, Battelle Boulevard, Perry 

Street, Third Avenue, and the Olentangy River

 Performed atomic energy research and development 

for Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Department of 

Energy (DOE), Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

(NRC), Department of Defense (DOD), commercial 

entities

 Owned and operated by Battelle Memorial Institute 

(BMI)
Sources of Available Information

 ORAU Team Site Profiles and Technical 

Information Bulletins (TIBs) and Procedures

 NIOSH Site Research Database

 Existing claimant files

 Data captures
Data Capture Efforts

 Data captures onsite at Battelle

• 2011 (January, April, September)

• 2012 (January)

 DOE Legacy Management database

 Opennet (Office of Scientific and Technical Information – OSTI - database)

 Energy Citations database

 Hanford Declassified Document Retrieval System (DDRS)

 Internet search

 Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Agency-wide 

Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) 

Database
NOSH/OCAS Claims Tracking System 

(information as of October 15, 2012)

 Battelle claims submitted to NIOSH 62

 Claims that meet the recommended class years 25

 Dose reconstructions completed for claims 19

 that meet the class definition 

 Claims containing some internal dosimetry 0

 Claims containing some external dosimetry 6
Radiological Operations for AEC

 April 16, 1943 - Initial contract with Manhattan 

Engineering District to perform atomic energy 

research and development activities 

 Initial work was for the fabrication, rolling, forging, 

and extrusion of uranium metal 

 Mid to late 1940 through early 1950 work with 

uranium and thorium metal (forging)

 Research in the extraction of uranium and thorium 

from phosphate ores (Chattanooga shale deposits) 

and then from monazite sands 
Radiological Buildings

 Building A – Corporate Office (Small 

Laboratories)

 Building 1 – Foundry

 Building 2 – Metalworking Building

 Building 3 – Materials Building

 Building 4 – Radiochemistry Laboratory

 Building 5 – Machine shop

 Building 6 – Chemistry Building

 Building 7 – Chemistry Building

 Building 9 – Mechanical Engineering
Battelle – King Avenue
Potential Radiation Exposures

 Internal

• Uranium

• Enriched Uranium

• Thorium

• Special “Samples”

 External 

• Beta/gamma exposures from

– Uranium

– Thorium

– Special Samples (radium)
Uranium Operations 

 MED Trip Report (1943)

• Heating pellets

• Extrusion of small billets into rods

• Hammering of heated billets into rods

• Rolling of heated billets into rods

• Experiments to prevent oxidation

• Machining under oil

• Nickel plating

 Metallurgy of Tuballoy Report (1945)
Uranium Operations – cont.

• Minimal large scale radiological work immediately after the war 

• Research on uranium and thorium extraction from ores and sands

• Emphasis on beryllium work in 1945-1946

Occasional "samples" from Chicago and. Clinton Laboratories are 

received. These are of low radioactivity. Intensity of radioactivity is 

measured before leaving Chicago or Clinton Laboratories and results 

accompany the "samples. An example of this was a radium compound 

measuring 0.1R for 50 hours at one foot distance. Up to the present 

time no "samples" have been received which reveal any significant 

degree of radiation. (August 1946)

The Battelle Institute has no radiation counters and is equipped in no 

way to work with radioactive materials. This officer advised that, 

should an occasion arise where the handling of "hot" material is 

necessary, the necessary counters, film badges, etc., should be 

obtained.
Uranium Operations – cont.

 BMI-800 Rolling of uranium (1952)

• “Uranium rods and strips were rolled under various 

conditions and the roll-separating force measured”

Rolling mill with Load-Measuring Equipment in Place
Incomplete Inventory Information

Year Uranium 

(kg)

Enriched U 

(kg)

Thorium 

(kg)

1943 1507 ? ?

1944 1579 ? ?

1945 ? ? ?

1946 ? ? ?

1947 360 0.24 871

1948 1809 4.73 665

1949 1595(a) 0.28(a) 262(a)

1950 1905 1.26 268

1951 2003 0.16 509

a) Beginning inventory on 1/1/1950 unknown remainder
Thorium Operations

 1948 – Memo from Westinghouse 

• Discusses rolling of approximately 900 lbs. of myrnaloy 

received from Battelle Memorial Institute

 1951 – The Technology of Thorium

• Discusses production of metal, physical properties, 

fabrication, chemical properties, mechanical properties, 

etc.

 1951 - Interim Report on Metallurgy of Thorium and 

Thorium Alloys (Oak Ridge National Laboratory-1090)

• States “This metal was cast at Ames Laboratory, forged at 

Battelle Memorial Institute, rolled and machined at 

Westinghouse.”
Personal Monitoring Data

 Internal monitoring data

• No internal bioassay prior to 1955

• One result in 1955

• 1956 Uranium urinalysis

 External monitoring data

• No external monitoring data until February 1951

• Some monitoring from 1951 to 1955
Personal Monitoring Data – cont.

Year

1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957

Number of film badges issued

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500
Non-routine Radiological Surveys

 1943 - First mention of Health and Safety

• Respirators used in dusty places only

 1947 - Radiological survey appears to be the first survey

• Alpha contamination on laboratory work table top 2000 dpm

• Gamma surveys - 1 mR/hr to 12 mr/hr

• Beta and Gamma – 0.1 mR/hr to 160 mr/hr

• Author of trip report recommended that Battelle obtain 

radiological survey instrumentation

 1950 – Three Radiological surveys (March through May)

• 48 Air samples analyzed by Health and Safety laboratory during 

several conditions (wet sawing, dry grinding) although many are 

listed as “installation blanks”
Non-routine Radiological Surveys

 1951 - Radiological Survey conducted in 3 

laboratories

• 77 Smears with contamination results – bkg up to 981 cpm

• 21 Beta - Gamma surveys – 0.1 mR/hr to 20 mR/hr

• Desks generally contamination free, work benches and 

hoods were not 

 1957 – Breathing zone air monitoring survey during 

rolling of thorium

• “Please let me know when you forge thorium. I would like 

to take some air samples.”
Feasibility of Dose Reconstructions

 Available internal monitoring records, process 

descriptions, and source-term data are 

inadequate to complete dose reconstructions 

with sufficient accuracy for the evaluated class 

of employees during the period from April 16, 

1943 through June 30, 1956

 Why June 30, 1956?

A review of the bioassay which started in July 1956 

indicates that workers in Buildings A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 were 

included in the urinalysis program 
Feasibility of Dose Reconstructions—cont. 

 Available external monitoring records, process 

descriptions, and source-term data are 

inadequate to complete dose reconstructions 

with sufficient accuracy for the evaluated class 

of employees during the period from April 16, 

1943 through February 13, 1951

 Based on limited monitoring data, NIOSH may be 

able to reconstruct doses from February 14, 

1951 through June 30, 1956
Feasibility Summary

Feasibility Findings for Battelle Memorial Institute 1943 - 1956

Source of Exposure

Dose 

Reconstruction 

Feasible

Dose Reconstruction 

NOT Feasible

Internal

 - Uranium X

 - Thorium X

External

 - Beta-Gamma after Feb 1951 until Feb 1951

 - Neutron N/A

 - Occupational 

Medical X-ray

N/A
Health Endangerment

 The evidence reviewed in this evaluation indicates 

that some workers in the class may have 

accumulated chronic radiation exposures through 

intakes of radionuclides and direct exposure to 

radioactive materials

 Consequently, NIOSH is specifying that health may 

have been endangered for those workers covered by 

this evaluation who were employed for a number of 

work days aggregating at least 250 work days within 

the parameters established for this class or in 

combination with work days within the parameters 

established for one or more other classes of 

employees in the SEC 
Proposed Class

All Atomic Weapons Employees who worked at the 

King Avenue facility owned by Battelle 

Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio, during the period 

from April 16, 1943 through June 30, 1956, for a 

number of work days aggregating at least 250 work 

days, occurring either solely under this 

employment or in combination with work days 

within the parameters established for one or more 

other classes of employees included in the Special 

Exposure Cohort
Recommendation

 For the period from April 16, 1943 through June 

30, 1956, NIOSH finds that radiation dose 

estimates cannot be reconstructed for 

compensation purposes

Class Feasibility Health 

Endangerment

April 16, 1943 –June 30, 1956 No Yes