Centers for Disease Control

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH) 

143rd Meeting

Wednesday, December 8, and Thursday, December 9, 2021

Wednesday, December 8, 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 A. Anderson, Chair

Josie Beach, Member

Bradley P. Clawson, Member

R. William Field, Member

David Kotelchuck, Member

James E. Lockey, 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 Officer

Adams, Nancy, NIOSH Contractor

Barrie, Terrie, ANWAG

Barton, Bob, SC&A

Beal, Daisy

Behling, Kathleen, SC&A

Blaze, D'lanie, CORE Advocacy

Calhoun, Grady, DCAS

Cardarelli, John, DCAS

Cook, Madeline, DCAS

Crawford, Frank, DOL

Degarmo, Denise, Petitioner

Ehlers, Cathy

Ehlers, Del, Petitioner

Gogliotti, Rose, SC&A

Hand, Donna
Hughes, Lara, DCAS

Jackson, Jamie

Lewis, Greg, DOE

Lobaugh, Megan, DCAS

McGolerick, Robert, HHS OGC

Rafky, Michael, HHS OGC

Rutherford, Lavon, DCAS

Scott, Elton

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 EDT

on December 8, 2021 via teleconference. A roll call of all ABRWH members confirmed that a quorum was 

present. The quorum was maintained throughout the meeting. Meeting attendees announced their conflicts

of interest during roll call. Dr. Roberts then turned the meeting over to Dr. Anderson, ABRWH Chair.

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 continues to work on processes to provide the 

Board and its contractor access to needed files.

SEC-00256 Pinellas Plant Evaluation Report – Dr. Megan Lobaugh, 

DCAS

Dr. Lobaugh provided summary descriptions of the Pinellas site and its history. Following that she described 

the reason why the petition had qualified for evaluation for the period January 1957 to December 1990. 

She then described the information in the petition evaluation report and provided DCAS’s conclusion that 

dose reconstruction is feasible for the period under evaluation. After questions from Board members and 

discussion, the Board tasked SC&A with reviewing the evaluation report. Bob Barton, SC&A, cautioned that 

SC&A’s review would likely take longer than usual. The reason is that the Cybersecurity IT Modernization 

has made access to the need documents more difficult. Dr. Denise DeGarmo, and Mr. Delmar Ehlers, the 

SEC petitioners, urged the Board to consider the petition favorably.

Procedures Review Finalization/Document Reviews – Josie Beach, 

Chair, Subcommittee for Procedure Reviews

Ms. Beach explained that the Subcommittee would be presenting the results of their deliberations on five 

technical documents. Kathy Behling, SC&A, then presented the review findings and the resolutions of those 

findings for the following documents:

• ORAUT-PROC-0022, Rev. 00, “Supplemental Requests for DOE Information”

• DCAS-PER-081, Rev. 0, “Hooker Electrochemical”

• ORAUT-OTIB-0025, Rev. 00, “Estimation of Radium-226 Activity in the Body from Breath Radon222 Measurements”

• ORAUT-OTIB-0032, Rev. 00, PC-1, “External Coworker Dosimetry Data for the Savannah River 

Site”
• ORAUT-OTIB-0032, Rev. 00, “Application of Internal Doses Based on Claimant-Favorable 

Assumptions for Processing as Best Estimates”

Ms. Beach explained that the Subcommittee had completed its reviews of these documents and asked the 

Board to close the reviews. The Board did so by roll call vote. Ms. Beach then reported that a Subcommittee 

meeting was scheduled for February 15, 2022. DCAS and SC&A are documenting the outcome of 

Subcommittee discussions in a way that will make it easy to record the information on the Board Review 

System when it becomes available.

Public Comment

Members of the public commented on the Pinellas Plant, their personal experiences there, and their health 

issues. Other members of the public commented on the desirability of petitioners having access to 

documents used in Evaluation Reports and questioned why earlier Pinellas petitions did not qualify for 

evaluation. Following public comment, Dr. Anderson adjourned the meeting for the day at 5:35 pm.
Thursday, December 9, 2021

Summary Proceedings

The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health meeting convened via teleconference at 1:01 p.m. 

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

Attendees

Members

Henry A. Anderson, Chair

Josie Beach, Member

Bradley P. Clawson, Member

R. William Field, Member

David Kotelchuck, Member

James E. Lockey, 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 Officer

Adams, Nancy, NIOSH Contractor

Barrie, Terrie, ANWAG

Barton, Bob, SC&A

Behling, Kathleen, SC&A

Buchanan, Ron, SC&A

Calhoun, Grady, DCAS

Cardarelli, John, DCAS

Fitzgerald, Joe, SC&A

Gogliotti, Rose, SC&A

Hand, Donna

Hughes, Lara, DCAS

McGolerick, Robert, HHS OGC

Rafky, Michael, HHS OGC

Rutherford, LaVon, DCAS

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 1:01 pm EST 

on December 9, 2021 via teleconference. A roll call of all ABRWH members confirmed that a quorum was 

present. The quorum was maintained throughout the meeting. Meeting participants declared conflicts of 

interest during roll call.
SEC Petition Status Update & SEC Qualification Process – LaVon 

Rutherford, DCAS

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

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, Savannah River Site, Los Alamos National 

Lab, Sandia National Lab-Albuquerque, Idaho National Lab, Argonne National Lab-West, Area IV Santa 

Susanna, Metals & Controls, DeSoto Avenue Facility, the Y-12 Plant, Pinellas, and Reduction Pilot Plant. 

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

warranted for the years 1966-1968. 

Subcommittee on Dose Reconstruction Reviews Update and 

Discussion – Dr. David Kotelchuck, Subcommittee Chair

Dr. Kotelchuck reported that, despite restrictions from COVID and the Cybersecurity IT Modernization, the 

Subcommittee had managed to meet about two times per year. Their next meeting is scheduled for January 

19, 2022. The Cybersecurity IT Modernization has made DR Tools unavailable. Blind reviews depend on 

DR Tools, so that type of review stopped in May. Prior to that, 44 blind reviews had been completed by the 

Subcommittee. Dr. Kotelchuck categorized those reviews in terms of employment facility, years of 

employment, and gender of employee. Twelve of the blind reviews have been completed since the 

Subcommittee’s last report to the Secretary, HHS. Dr. Kotelchuck presented the Probability of Causation 

(POC) values developed by DCAS and SC&A for those cases, showing very close agreement on all but 

two. In both cases NIOSH’s value was higher and was below 50%.

Board Work Session

Dr. Roberts introduced Robert McGolerick and Michael Rafky, HHS OGC attorneys who are providing legal 

support to the Board and DCAS since Jenny Naylor’s departure. Then Dr. Roberts reminded Board 

members of the dates for the next several meetings: telephone meeting February 16, 2022; potential inperson meeting April 27 & 28; telephone meeting June 15; and a planned in-person meeting August 17 & 

18. Meeting in person will depend on NIOSH removing the COVID travel restrictions in time. If the Board 

can meet in person in April, the Board selected a site near Savannah River Site as the location. The 

following dates were selected for future meetings: October 20 for a telephone meeting and December 7 & 

8 for an in-person meeting. Work Group chairs reported on issues under consideration, recent progress, 

and planned investigations and meetings. Progress on several sites has been severely impacted by COVID 

travel restrictions and by the Cybersecurity IT Modernization. Dr. Anderson announced that there is no word 

on the nominations for potential new Board members. Board members decided it would be beneficial for 

them to attend training on the existing NIOSH document portal, since that will be the only way to view 

documents for some time.

Meeting Adjourned

Dr. Anderson adjourned the meeting at 2:39 pm.