Centers for Disease Control 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH) 

141th Meeting

Wednesday, August 18, and Thursday August 19, 2021 

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Summary Proceedings

The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health meeting convened via teleconference at 1:00 p.m. 

Eastern Time, Dr. Henry Anderson, Chair, presiding.

Attendees

Members 

Henry Anderson, Chair 

Josie Beach, Member 

Bradley P. Clawson, Member 

R. William Field, Member 

David Kotelchuck, Member 

Genevieve S. Roessler, Member 

Phillip Schofield, Member 

Loretta R. Valerio, Member 

Paul L. Ziemer, Member

Non-Members, Registered and/or Public Comment Participants: 

Roberts, Rashaun, Designated Federal Official 

Adams, Nancy, Niosh Contractor 

Barton, Bob, SC&A 

Behling, Kathy, SC&A 

Blaze, D'Lanie 

Buchanan, Ron, SC&A 

Calhoun, Grady, DCAS 

Cardarelli, John, DCAS 

Chalmers, Nancy, ORAU Team 

Cook, Maddie, DCAS 

Crawford, Chris, DOL 

DeGarmo, Denise 

Fitzgerald, Joe, SC&A 

Gheen, Angelica, DCAS 

Gogliotti, Rose, SC&A 

Guido, Joe, ORAU Team 
Hand, Donna 

Hughes, Lara, DCAS 

Kinman, Josh, DCAS 

Kranbuhl, Alek, DCAS 

Lewis, Greg, DOE 

McCloskey, Pat, ORAU Team 

Naylor, Jenny, HHS OGC 

Nelson, Chuck, DCAS 

Reeves, Kandyce, DCAS 

Rutherford, LaVon, DCAS

Sheanshang, Daniel, ORAU Team 

Taulbee, Tim, DCAS 

Whitten, Dianne

Roll Call/Welcome - Dr. Rashaun Roberts, DFO 

Dr. Rashaun Roberts called to order the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health at 1:00 pm EDT

on August 18, 2021 via teleconference. A roll call of all ABRWH members confirmed that a quorum was 

present. The quorum was maintained throughout the meeting. Dr. Roberts noted that Board members did 

not have any conflicts of interest for the sites on today’s agenda. She then turned the meeting over to Dr. 

Anderson, ABRWH Chair. Dr. Anderson welcomed attendees and announced that NIOSH was in the 

process of recruiting additional ABRWH members.

Program Updates: NIOSH, DOL, and DOE

Grady Calhoun (NIOSH), Chris Crawford (DOL), and Greg Lewis (DOE) gave updates of each 

organization’s activities for the EEOICPA Program and responded to questions from Board Members. Mr. 

Calhoun’s presentation gave an update on the NIOSH Cybersecurity IT Modernization, which has disrupted 

access to many of the files used in the program. DCAS is working on processes to provide the Board and 

its contractor access to needed files.

Procedures Review Finalization/Document Approvals – Josie Beach, 

Chair, Subcommittee for Procedure Review 

Ms. Beach introduced the topic, reporting that the Subcommittee has not been able to meet since the last 

Board meeting. However, SC&A has been able to move forward on one activity that the Subcommittee 

proposed at the last Board meeting: the review of Board meeting transcripts where the Subcommittee 

reported on technical documents for which it had completed reviews. In these cases, the Board did not take 

action to approve the completion of the document reviews. 

Kathy Behling, SC&A, presented the Subcommittee’s findings and resolutions for eight technical documents

that had been presented to the Board previously, but not closed by the Board. The Board discussed each 

and decided whether to close the reviews, as recommended by the Subcommittee. The documents are:

• ORAUT-OTIB-0070, rev 00, “Dose Reconstruction during Residual Radioactivity Periods at Atomic 

Weapons Employer Sites”

• OCAS-IG-001, rev 01, 02, and 03, “External Dose Reconstruction Implementation Guideline”

• OCAS-OTIB-0010, rev 02, “Best Estimate External Dose Reconstruction for Glovebox Workers”

• ORAUT-OTIB-0023, rev 00, “Assignment of Missed Neutron Doses Based on Dosimeter Records”

• ORAUT-OTIB-0010, rev 00, “A Standard Complex-Wide Correction Factor for Overestimating 

External Doses Measured with Film Badge Dosimeters”

• OCAS-PER-012, rev 00, “Evaluation of Highly Insoluble Plutonium Compounds”

• NIOSH-OVER-0009, “Skin Exposure”
• ORAUT-OTIB-0017, rev 01, “Interpretation of Dosimetry Data for Assignment of Shallow Dose”

The Board agreed to close all findings associated with ORAUT-OTIB-0070, OCAS-IG-001, ORAUT-OTIB0023, ORAUT-OTIB-0019, and OCAS-PER-012, and agreed to close all findings on OCAS-OTIB-0010 

except for findings numbered 5, 6, and 8. The Subcommittee and Board will revisit those findings after an 

anticipated revision to the document that incorporates dose conversion factors from ICRP-116 is issued. 

The Board did not close findings from OVER-0009 and ORAUT-OTIB-0017. The Subcommittee and Board 

will revisit those after anticipated revisions are issued.

The Subcommittee expects to make a similar presentation on ORAUT-OTIB-0052. OCAS-PER-0014, and 

ORAUT-OTIB-0020 at the Board’s December meeting.

Board Work Session 

Dr. Anderson opened the session by asking Bob Barton, SC&A, to provide a presentation on the use of 

NOCTS claimant radiation exposure data as a substitute for the complete site radiation exposure database. 

The Board had asked SC&A to perform this task at a prior meeting so that the Board could specifically 

evaluate this topic. Mr. Barton presented information from transcripts of Board, Subcommittee, and Work 

Group meetings where documents relevant to co-exposure models were discussed. Following extensive 

Board discussion, members agreed to continue considering the question. Members certainly expect to 

revisit it as DCAS prepares new co-exposure models. Subcommittee and Work Group chairs reported 

recent progress and planned activities. 

Public Comment

Members of the public provided comments related to the Pinellas Plant, and Dr. Roberts then read into the 

record comments from an advocate that argued against the use of NOCTS data for co-exposure models. 

Following public comment, Dr. Anderson adjourned for the day at 5:50 pm EDT.
Thursday, August 19, 2021

Summary Proceedings 

The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health meeting convened via teleconference at 1:00 p.m. 

Eastern Time, Dr. Henry Anderson, Chair, presiding. 

Attendees

Members 

Henry Anderson, Chair

Josie Beach, Member

Bradley P. Clawson, Member

R. William Field, Member

David Kotelchuck, Member

Genevieve S. Roessler, Member

Phillip Schofield, Member

Loretta R. Valerio, Member

Paul L. Ziemer, Member

Non-Members, Registered and/or Public Comment Participants: 

Roberts, Rashaun, Designated Federal Official

Adams, Nancy, NIOSH Contractor

Barrie, Terrie, ANWAG

Barton, Bob, SC&A

Buchanan, Ron, SC&A

Calhoun, Grady, DCAS

Cardarelli, John, DCAS

Carroll, Stephanie, Atomic Worker Advocacy, 

Inc.

Chalmers, Nancy, ORAU Team

Cook, Maddie, DCAS

Fitzgerald, Joe, SC&A

Gheen, Angelica, DCAS

Gogliotti, Rose, SC&A

Guido, Joe, ORAU Team

Hicks, Steve

Hughes, Lara, DCAS

Lewis, Greg, DOE

McCloskey, Pat, ORAU Team

Mercer, Jack

Naylor, Jenny, HHS OGC

Nelson, Chuck, DCAS

Quinn, Trish, CPWR

Rutherford, LaVon, DCAS

Sharfi, Mutty, ORAU Team

Sheanshang, Daniel, ORAU Team 

Taulbee, Tim, DCAS
Roll Call/Welcome – Dr. Rashaun Roberts, DFO

Dr. Rashaun Roberts called to order the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health at 1:00 pm EST 

on August 19, 2021 via teleconference. Dr. Roberts noted that Dr. Ziemer had a conflict of interest with 

respect to Oak Ridge National Lab (X-10), so he will disconnect from the call for that agenda item. A roll 

call of all ABRWH members confirmed that a quorum was present. The quorum was maintained throughout 

the meeting.

SEC Petition Status Update & SEC Qualification Process – Chuck 

Nelson, DCAS

Mr. Nelson reported that there were no SEC petitions in the qualification process. DCAS is working on the 

evaluation report for a petition for the Pinellas plant and an addendum to its evaluation report for a petition 

for Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Additionally, DCAS and SC&A are continuing work on SEC petitions 

from Hanford, Los Alamos National Lab, Sandia National Lab, Idaho National Lab, Argonne National LabWest, Area IV Santa Susanna, Metals & Controls, DeSoto Avenue Facility, and Reduction Pilot Plant and 

is still evaluating records from West Valley Demonstration Project to see if an 83.14 petition is warranted 

for the years 1966-1968. Later in today’s agenda Dr. Lara Hughes, DCAS, will present the evaluation report 

addendum for the Y-12 Plant. NIOSH is still awaiting action from the Secretary, HHS, on Board’s letter 

recommending the addition of an SEC class at the Savannah River Site.

Y-12 Plant SEC Petition 250 Addendum Update (Oak Ridge, 

Tennessee; 1987-1994) – Dr. Lara Hughes, DCAS

Dr. Field, Y-12 Work Group chair introduced the topic, providing background on Work Group activities, and 

noting that the Work Group last met in September 2020. At that meeting DCAS provided a progress report 

on remaining issues, and the Work Group tasked DCAS to respond to questions from the Y-12 SEC 

petitioner. DCAS provided the Work Group responses to those questions in July. 

Dr. Lara Hughes presented the findings from DCAS’s evaluation report addendum. Several SEC classes 

have been added for Y-12 from earlier petitions with the end result that all Y-12 workers from 1943-1976 

are included in the class. The original evaluation report Petition 250 recommended adding a class for 

January 1977 through July 1979, but not adding a class for August 1979 through December 1986. The 

addendum being presented today does not recommend a class for January 1987 through December 1994. 

Dr. Hughes described the research DCAS had completed in order to arrive at this conclusion and presented 

site description and site history information for Y-12. Since the ability to reconstruct doses from thorium 

exposure is an important question for the Y-12 SEC petitions, she also described Y-12’s thorium work 

activities and thorium monitoring practices. After Board discussion SC&A was tasked to review the 

evaluation report addendum. Bob Barton, SC&A, cautioned that the review would take longer than usual 

because NIOSH’s Cybersecurity IT Modernization had interrupted access to the Site Research Database. 

While DCAS can make specific documents, such as the references cited in the addendum, available, SC&A 

normally does not restrict its review of a technical document to a review of that document’s references. The 

SEC petitioner provided comments, asking for broader availability of the historical documents that support 

the technical documents prepared in this program, and urging investigation of certain issues.

Oak Ridge National Lab (X-10) Update – Dr. Gen Roessler, Chair, Oak 

Ridge National Lab Work Group

Dr. Roessler reported that a central issue for Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) is the production of exotic 

radionuclides by the ORNL Isotope Division. Some of that Division’s work utilized the Cyclotron and 

Calutron devices, which are located at the Y-12 plant. Thus, the evaluations of these two sites are 

somewhat intertwined. Dr. Roessler reported on the open and closed findings from SC&A’s review of 
ORAUT-RPRT-0090, “Assessing Doses from Isotope Production at ORNL from 1955-1988,” as well as the 

recognized need to revise the ORNL co-exposure models to comply with the guidance in OCAS-IG-006.

DCAS reported that it hopes to publish a revision to ORAUT-RPRT-0090 by the end of the year that should 

address the open findings. However, it could not predict completion of revised co-exposure models because 

the Cybersecurity IT Modernization had limited the ability to perform the needed work.

Meeting Adjourned

Before the meeting adjourned, Dr. Kotelchuck, chair of the Subcommittee for Dose Reconstruction 

Reviews, asked if the necessary files would be made available to Subcommittee members and SC&A in 

order to enable a Subcommittee meeting in September. NIOSH’s Cybersecurity IT Modernization project 

had disrupted normal access to those files. Grady Calhoun, DCAS, reported that he was working on a way 

to make the necessary files available, and felt that a meeting in September would be possible.

Dr. Anderson adjourned the meeting at 2:52 pm.