NEAL R. GROSS

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United States of America

Centers for Disease Control

National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

Health

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health

133rd Meeting

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

The meeting convened at 11:00 a.m., Eastern Standard 

Time, via teleconference, Ted Katz, Acting Chair, 

presiding.
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Present: 

Ted Katz, Acting Chair, Designated Federal 

Officer 

Henry Anderson, Member

Josie Beach, Member

Bradley P. Clawson, Member

R. William Field, Member

David Kotelchuck, Member

James E. Lockey, Member

David B. Richardson, Member

Genevieve S. Roessler, Member

Phillip Schofield, Member

Loretta R. Valerio, Member

Paul L. Ziemer, Member 

Also Present: 

Nancy Adams, NIOSH Contractor

Terrie Barrie, ANWAG

Robert Barton, SC&A

Ronald Buchanan, SC&A

Grady Calhoun, NIOSH ORAU

Lara Hughes, NIOSH ORAU

Jeffrey Kotsch, DOL

Jenny Lin-Naylor, HHS

LaVon Rutherford, NIOSH ORAU

John Stiver, SC&A 

Timothy Taulbee, NIOSH ORAU
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Contents

United States of America Centers for Disease 

Control National Institute for Occupational Safety 

and Health Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

Health 133rd Meeting Wednesday, February 19, 

2020 1

Welcome and Roll Call 4

Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) Petition Status 

Update 5

Updates from Work Groups and 

Subcommittees 5

Plans for the April 2020 Board Meeting 8

Board Correspondence 10

Adjourn 12
4

Proceedings

(11:02 a.m.)

Welcome and Roll Call

Chair Katz: It's time, so let me say welcome to 

everybody. This is the Advisory Board on Radiation 

and Worker Health, and this is our -- three times a 

year we have a teleconference to prepare for our 

three in-person meetings around the calendar.

And that next in-person meeting is in April out west, 

actually, in Washington State. So welcome, 

everyone.

There is an agenda. There is an agenda for the 

meeting, but this is really very simple, and it's not 

worth anybody's time to go and find the agenda on 

the NIOSH website. Simple enough to follow along.

So let's go first to roll call, and there's no issues of 

conflict of interest with this because it's literally 

basically just an administrative meeting. So we 

don't need to address conflict of interest.

I've heard a number of the Board members, so I'll 

just note them as I get to them, but the ones I 

haven't heard I'll ask for.

(Roll call.)

Chair Katz: So again, welcome to you all. And 

there's a little static on the line. I don't know what 

that is, but if you would all, except when someone's 

speaking, mute your phones, that would be helpful 

probably. If you don't have a mute button, press *6 

to mute your phone and *6 to come off of mute.

And this should be a relatively brief meeting, but 

first on the agenda we have, I think, the update 

from LaVon.
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Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) Petition Status 

Update

Mr. Rutherford: All right. Thanks, Ted. This is going 

to be another short report. We will not be 

presenting any new SEC evaluations at the April 

Board meeting. 

We have one new petition under evaluation. That's 

the -- for the Reduction Pilot Plant in Huntington, 

West Virginia. We do expect to complete that 

evaluation in late April, however I don't think it's 

going to give us enough time to have it for the April 

meeting. Right now the tight -- it's on a tight 

schedule and looks like it's going to end up right at 

the end of April. So we do expect that we will 

present that report at the August Advisory Board 

meeting.

We also expect to present an addendum for 

Lawrence Livermore National Lab at the August 

Board meeting that addendum will address the 

remaining years of an existing petition.

So, again, there will be no new evaluation reports at 

the -- presented at the April meeting. That's all I 

have.

Chair Katz: Okay, great. Thanks.

We still have some -- a serious static issue from 

somebody's line, if everybody could mute.

Okay, super. That's LaVon. And now on to, again, if 

any Work Groups or Subcommittees want to report 

on what they're up to or what's coming their way, 

now's the time for that.

Updates from Work Groups and Subcommittees

Member Clawson: Ted, this is Brad.

Chair Katz: Yeah.

Member Clawson: We've got our meeting for 

Savannah River coming up next month on the 26th.
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Chair Katz: Right. Thanks, Brad. Yeah, and that's an 

in-person meeting in Cincinnati for everyone.

Member Kotelchuck: Dave Kotelchuck, Dose 

Reconstruction Reviews Subcommittee. I'm off of 

my CDC computer temporarily as my -- as you 

know, Ted, my smart card has expired, and I'm 

waiting.

I was wondering if there was any update when we 

might begin again on our meetings of the DRR.

Chair Katz: Right, Dave. And so I've been looking 

for that as well, but we haven't heard back yet. So I 

know Rose is on that, and she was looking into -- I 

mean I think the question is how long it'll take for 

Grady's crew to be able to review once they have in 

hand the cases from -- which I think they have now, 

actually, the cases from --

Member Kotelchuck: Okay.

Chair Katz: -- from SC&A, the review cases. They 

have those cases now, so it's just a matter of how 

long it takes them to do the Type 1 reviews or 

whatever.

Member Kotelchuck: Good.

(Simultaneous speaking.)

Mr. Calhoun: This is Grady, and we just got those a 

couple of days ago, so I'll check with Scott, and I'll 

get back with you guys once he has a chance to at 

least give it a guess.

Member Kotelchuck: Good, good. For the next week 

or so, please send it to my personal email, 

[redacted].

Chair Katz: And if you just give us a liberal guess, 

giving yourself some cushion there, then we can --

we need two months to schedule it anyway with the 

Federal Register, so that'll be good.

Member Kotelchuck: Good.
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Chair Katz: Yeah, thanks, Grady.

Member Kotelchuck: Thank you.

Member Beach: Hi, Ted. I'll say something about 

Metals and Controls. This is Josie.

So Metals and Controls met in January. We met on 

January 9. Our next meeting is now scheduled for 

April 13. I believe, LaVon, I don't know if you can 

give me an update on the phone. We were looking 

to schedule one more interview with an individual 

between now and the April 13 meeting. How's that 

going?

Mr. Rutherford: That is going really well. Actually we 

are in communication. Just briefly, there's a health 

physicist that worked on the HFIR, which is the High 

Flux Reactor during the petition period. That's not a 

covered activity, but we wanted to get some insight 

from that health physicist as to maybe they may 

know of -- have a little more information on the 

activities and things that took place during that time 

period. 

So we just stumbled upon this person, so we have 

been in contact, and we are looking at trying to get 

that scheduled in the next couple of weeks. And it's 

going to -- we're setting it up so that the Board 

members or Work Group members and SC&A can 

call in on that. We will also give the opportunity, in 

addition to our questions, that the Work Group or 

SC&A have additional questions, they may ask at 

the same time.

So I expect that you'll hear something, each of the 

Work Group members, sometime in the next three 

or four days.

Member Beach: Okay, thanks, LaVon. And so we 

will be reporting on Metals and Controls at the April 

Board meeting. I don't know that we'll be ready for 

a vote or anything, but we'll at least update the 

Board on where we're at.
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Chair Katz: Thanks, Josie.

Member Ziemer: This is Ziemer. I'll give you a quick 

report on TBD-6000. We met through 

teleconference a couple weeks ago dealing with 

Superior Steel. We'll have a report at the April 

meeting.

Chair Katz: Thank you, Paul. Andy, do you want to 

report, too?

Member Anderson: Yeah. On the 6001 group, we 

have a number of issues and one report coming up 

at the April meeting.

Plans for the April 2020 Board Meeting

Chair Katz: Right, super. Any others want to report?

Okay then, great. Thank you. And let's go on to the 

April Board meeting. So I have to get an agenda up 

to HHS, so let me run through what I have.

So aside from the usuals, I'll just speak to the --

what's not part of the usual. So early on, I'm glad 

we have Jeff on the phone from DOL. We have a 

DOL, always of course, the program update, but this 

is, in this case, going to be focused to what we 

discussed at the last Board meeting, the claims 

appeals process and the experience in claim rateforecasting, which we discussed at the last meeting, 

wanting to have a discussion of that from DOL.

And, Jeff, was that -- I've given a half an hour for 

that. Does that sound reasonable, Jeff?

Mr. Kotsch: That's probably -- Ted, that's probably a 

little long, but, you know, certainly we could go 20 

minutes.

Chair Katz: Okay, I mean I -- that's leaving time for 

the Board to ask you questions.

Mr. Kotsch: Yeah. No, that's fine.

Chair Katz: You certainly don't have to fill that all, 
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and we wouldn't want you to fill that all with 

presentation, but given the -- and that also allows 

for you to present a little bit of the normal update, 

although I think you can abbreviate that as much as 

you want.

Mr. Kotsch: Yeah, we will. Yeah, that sounds fine.

Chair Katz: That's great. Thanks so much, Jeff. We 

really appreciate you doing that.

Okay, so then we have that set. That's super. And 

then this is what Dr. Anderson, Andy, was saying, 

we have the -- he's using the old name for the Work 

Group, TBD-6001 is no longer, but the Uranium 

Refining AWE Work Group has completed its review 

of the W.R. Grace in Erwin, Tennessee, Site Profile. 

And so that's what it's going to be reporting out at 

this meeting, which is great.

And then we have from Paul, TBD-6000 Work 

Group, we have -- they are going to be reporting 

out on the Superior Steel SEC petition. So that's a 

petition for possible actions at this meeting.

And then following that, following lunch, we have an 

update on Metals and Controls. It's not set for 

action because a lot of work has been done since 

you last heard about Metals and Controls, and they 

want you to have the opportunity to digest all the 

work that's been done without having to act on that 

in -- all in one meeting.

So the Work Group may or may not have a 

recommendation, but it won't be on the agenda for 

action at this meeting. But perhaps it would be for 

action or, I think, probably likely be for action at the 

August meeting, but it'd be -- this would be a very 

thorough update, and I've given it the usual hour 

and a half time for the SEC update.

And then we have, finishing out the first day, an 

update on the Hanford SEC petition, and I'm not 

sure all of what the substance of that will be, but 

NIOSH has released a report following up on a lot of 
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the open issues, and SC&A's going over that with a 

fine-toothed comb right now, and so there should 

be a Hanford meeting, which we should -- Work 

Group meeting which we need to arrange. It hasn't 

been scheduled yet, before the Board meetings, but 

there can be a thorough presentation to the local 

people there as well, that's why we're there in 

Hanford, on how we're doing with the Hanford SEC.

So that finishes out the first day. Then on the 

second day we just have the morning, and you 

should be done by 11:00 at the latest. The first part 

we have is Savannah River Site petition. We have a 

Work Group scheduled, as Brad mentioned, and so 

this is up for, as we discussed at the December 

Board meeting, this is up for a possible vote on at 

least a portion of that petition, and we'll see how 

this works out.

But we have a full-day face-to-face meeting of the 

SEC Issues Work Group and the SRS Work Group 

together jointly again in March, which gives them 

plenty of time to prepare for the April meeting to 

hopefully be ready for some sort of action on this, 

at least in part. And in any event, another bringing 

the Board up-to-date in detail.

Board Correspondence

And then the last piece, and I've sent to you -- I 

sent you all an email with the last item on the 

agenda is Santa Susana Area IV. And I have it on 

the agenda because if I don't have it on the agenda 

the Board can't take it off the table at the meeting.

So it's on the agenda for this meeting. I've shared 

the correspondence from -- between the Petitioner 

and me and the Petitioner and LaVon on this 

matter. And as the Petitioner has said several times, 

the Petitioner would like this to await until the -- her 

FOIA is satisfied before the Board takes it up.

And you have reports from NIOSH and SC&A on 

their review of the documents that she submitted 

already and the issues she's raised. So it's the last 
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item on the agenda, and it's really then in your 

hands to decide whether you want to take it off the 

table or not. You can drop it if you want, you can 

take off the table and ask -- and I'll just explain to 

her that it's in your hands and I'm not promising 

that you won't un-table it and deal with it.

And there's, you know, reasons either way, to go 

either way. It's really for your judgment. So that's 

what I have here for a day and a half.

(Simultaneous speaking.)

Member Anderson: We're ready to close it out I 

think.

Chair Katz: Yeah, I think -- so it's -- well, it's on the 

agenda, so it's totally within your hands. The Board 

will have to un-table it, and you will vote to un-table 

it if that's the case, and act on it if you're ready to 

act on it. But I'm leaving it in your hands.

The other thing -- so well do we have any questions 

about the agenda?

Okay. Then the last thing I just wanted to tell you 

about which is a piece of good news is we still don't 

have a designated chair, I'm sorry to tell you, but 

probably no surprise, but we have recruited a DFO 

to follow behind me, and we had a very talented 

roster of applicants, I'm glad to say, and the person 

who was selected is talented and smart and will be 

a quick learner, and doesn't know about this 

program, but then none of the applicants did, but 

will be a quick learner and has a lot of experience 

aside from this in leading and as a team member of 

many teams, a leader of teams.

So and I think you'll be very happy with what she 

brings to the table. I can't name her because 

officialdom hasn't finished its business, but I wanted 

to let you know that, and she will introduce herself 

when she can, when she is official, and you can 

expect her to be -- I feel most of you know this at 

this point, I think, I can't travel right now for health 
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reasons, and I don't know what will change in 

March, so that could get better, I could be okay in

March. I don't know.

But -- and I can't really plan that way, so she will 

be, in any event, at the Savannah River Site SEC 

Issues Work Group meeting in March, so a good 

number of you will get a chance to meet her in 

person or at least on the phone for that meeting, 

and she'll be on the call for the Work Group 

meeting, Metals and Controls Work Group meeting 

and the Hanford meeting, whenever that gets 

scheduled, so you'll get a little bit of a brush with 

her from those experiences.

And then perhaps people can get in a little early 

before the April Board meeting. She'll be at the April 

Board meeting for sure, and that'll be her first 

Board meeting. So anyway, I wanted to share that 

good news, and you'll hear more soon.

Member Clawson: Savannah River will be a good 

introduction.

Chair Katz: It'll be a dunk in the deep end I think. 

But that's good. That's a good way to get initiated, I 

think.

So anything else for the good of the order from 

anyone?

(No response)

Adjourn

Chair Katz: Okay, then. Well thanks, everybody.

(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the 

record at 11:24 a.m.)