Battelle Memorial Institute 

King Avenue

SEC Petition Evaluation Report SEC0

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 ex

Battelle Memorial Insititute – King Avenue 

 On October 18, 2012, claimant notified an

provided with a copy of Special Exposure C

(SEC) Petition Form A

 October 25, 2012: Petition (83.14) submitt

NIOSH

 November 19, 2012: NIOSH Evaluation Rep

issued
Proposed Class

All Atomic Weapons Employees who worked 

King Avenue facility owned by Battelle Labor

in Columbus, Ohio, during the period from A

1943 through June 30, 1956, for a number of days aggregating at least 250 work days, occu

either solely under this employment or incombination with work days within the para

established for one or more other classes of

employees included in the Special Exposure C
Background

 EEOICPA covered facility from 1943‐1986 (Ato

Weapons Employer‐AWE)

 The 58.3‐acre site, accommodating 13 buildin

bordered by King Avenue, Battelle Boulevard, 

Street, Third Avenue, and the Olentangy River

 Performed atomic energy research and develo

for Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Departm

Energy (DOE), Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC), Department of Defense (DOD), comme

entities

 Owned and operated by Battelle Memorial In

(BMI)
Sources of Available Informat

 ORAU Team Site Profiles and Technical

Information Bulletins (TIBs) and Procedure

 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 Inform

OSTI ‐ database)

 Energy Citations database Hanford Declassified Document Retrieval System (

 Internet search

 Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Agency‐wide

Documents Access and Management System (ADA

Database
NOSH/OCAS Claims Tracking Sy

(information as of October 15, 2012)

 Battelle claims submitted to NIOSH  Claims that meet the recommended class years 

 Dose reconstructions completed for claims 

that meet the class definition

 Claims containing some internal dosimetry 

 Claims containing some external dosimetry 
Radiological Operations for A

 April 16, 1943 ‐ Initial contract with Manhatta

Engineering District to perform atomic energy

research and development activities

 Initial work was for the fabrication, rolling, for

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 tho

from phosphate ores (Chattanooga shale depo

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 Exposure

 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 

• Research on uranium and thorium extraction from ores and 

• Emphasis on beryllium work in 1945‐1946

Occasional "samples" from Chicago and. Clinton Laboratories a

received. These are of low radioactivity. Intensity of radioactivitmeasured before leaving Chicago or Clinton Laboratories and reaccompany the "samples. An example of this was a radium commeasuring 0.1R for 50 hours at one foot distance. Up to the pretime no "samples" have been received which reveal any significdegree of radiation. (August 1946)

The Battelle Institute has no radiation counters and is equipped 

way to work with radioactive materials. This officer advised tha

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

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 var

conditions and the roll‐separating force measu

Rolling mill with Load-Measuring Equipment in 
Incomplete Inventory Informat

Year Uranium

(kg)

Enriched U

(kg)

Thorium

(kg)

1943 1507 ? ?1944 1579 ? ?1945 ? ? ?1946 ? ? ?1947 360 0.24 8711948 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 rema
Thorium Operations

 1948 – Memo from Westinghouse

• Discusses rolling of approximately 900 lbs. of myrna

received from Battelle Memorial Institute

 1951 – The Technology of Thorium

• Discusses production of metal, physical properties,

fabrication, chemical properties, mechanical propeetc.

 1951 ‐ Interim Report on Metallurgy of Thorium an

Thorium Alloys (Oak Ridge National Laboratory‐10

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

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 19• Some monitoring from 1951 to 1955
Personal Monitoring Data – co
Non‐routine Radiological Surv

 1943 ‐ First mention of Health and Safety

• Respirators used in dusty places only

 1947 ‐ Radiological survey appears to be the first s

• Alpha contamination on laboratory work table top 2000 

• 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 

• 48 Air samples analyzed by Health and Safety laboratory 

several conditions (wet sawing, dry grinding) although m

listed as “installation blanks”
Non‐routine Radiological Surv

 1951 ‐ Radiological Survey conducted in 3

laboratories

• 77 Smears with contamination results – bkg up to 9• 21 Beta ‐ Gamma surveys – 0.1 mR/hr to 20 mR/hr

• Desks generally contamination free, work benches 

hoods were not

 1957 – Breathing zone air monitoring survey d

rolling of thorium

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

to take some air samples.”
Feasibility of Dose Reconstruct

 Available internal monitoring records, proc

descriptions, and source‐term data are

inadequate to complete dose reconstructio

with sufficient accuracy for the evaluated c

of employees during the period from April 

1943 through June 30, 1956

 Why June 30, 1956?

A review of the bioassay which started in July 19indicates that workers in Buildings A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

included in the urinalysis program
Feasibility of Dose Reconstructio

 Available external monitoring records, pro

descriptions, and source‐term data are

inadequate to complete dose reconstructio

with sufficient accuracy for the evaluated c

of employees during the period from April 

1943 through February 13, 1951

 Based on limited monitoring data, NIOSH m

able to reconstruct doses from February 14

1951 through June 30, 1956
Feasibility Summary

Feasibility Findings for Battelle Memorial Institute 1943 - 

Source of Exposure 

Dose 

Reconstruction 

Feasible 

Dose Recon

NOT Fea

Internal 

- Uranium X 

- Thorium X 

External 

- Beta-Gamma after Feb 1951 until Feb 

- Neutron N/A - Occupational 

Medical X-ray 

N/A 
Health Endangerment

 The evidence reviewed in this evaluation indic

that some workers in the class may haveaccumulated chronic radiation exposures thro

intakes of radionuclides and direct exposure tradioactive materials

 Consequently, NIOSH is specifying that health 

have been endangered for those workers covethis evaluation who were employed for a num

work days aggregating at least 250 work days 

the parameters established for this class or incombination with work days within the param

established for one or more other classes of

employees in the SEC
Proposed Class

All Atomic Weapons Employees who worked 

King Avenue facility owned by Battelle

Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio, during the 

from April 16, 1943 through June 30, 1956, f

number of work days aggregating at least 25

days, occurring either solely under thisemployment or in combination with work d

within the parameters established for one o

other classes of employees included in the S

Exposure Cohort
Recommendation

 For the period from April 16, 1943 through 

30, 1956, NIOSH finds that radiation dose

estimates cannot be reconstructed forcompensation purposes

Class Feasibility Heal

Endange

April 16, 1943 –June 30, 1956 No Yes