Y‐12

Special Special Exposure Exposure Cohort

Petition Evaluation Repor

LaVon B. Rutherford, CHP

Special Exposure Cohort Health Physics Team Leader

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Division of Compensation Analysis and Support

August 2011

Richland, WA
Petition Overview

 NIOSH unable to complete the dose

reconstruction reconstruction for an existing existing Y‐12 claim

 April 13, 2011: NIOSH notified the claiman

provided provided a copy of Special Special Exposure Exposure Cohor

Petition Form A

 April 22, 2011: Petition Petition (83.14) received received

 July 19, 2011: NIOSH Evaluation Report ap
Proposed Class

All employees of the Department of Energy, itspredecessor agencies, and DOE contractors orsubcontractors who worked at the Y‐12 facility Ridge, Tennessee Tennessee during the period from Janua

Janua

1948 through December 31, 1957, for a numbe

work days aggregating at least 250 work days,

occurring either solely under this employment 

combination with work days within the parame

established established for one or more other classes classes of em

em

in the Special Exposure Cohort.
Y‐12 Operations (1948‐1957

 “Second Era” of operations at Y‐12

 Uranium operations

• Recycling/salvage• Machining and component assembly

 Lithium isotope separation

• Li‐6 from Li‐7

 Thorium studies

• Co‐precipitation medium for U recovery

• Isotopic Isotopic Separation Separation Program Program (calutrons calutrons)

• Research and development work involving tho

• ORNL research and development support
Y‐12 Operations (1948‐1957)—

 Waste disposal

• S‐3 ponds: seep ga e pits• New Hope Pond: retention basin

 ORNL work at Y‐12:

• Production of stable and radioactive isotopes for m

research using the Y‐12 calutrons

• Plutonium isotopic separation – process design

• Operation of 86‐inch cyclotron for isotope producti

nuclear physics research

• Critical Experiments Facility

• Van de Graff Accelerator (5 MeV)

 Weapons assembly/disassembly
Existing Y‐12 SEC Classes

 SEC‐0018 (83.13)

• 1943‐1947• Specified Specified job titles (uranium (uranium enrichment enrichment workers) workers)

 SEC‐0098 (83.14)

• 1943‐1947• All workers

 SEC‐0028 (83.13)

• 1948‐1957• Specified areas (buildings and certain operations)

 SEC‐00186 (83.14)

• 1948‐1957

• All workers, all areas
SEC Class Definition Review

 November 2010: NIOSH assessment report to review 

class definitions issued

 Systematic review of existing SEC class definitions ba

NIOSH evaluation and recommendation

 Review based on criteria of consistency, applicability, 

whether any actions may be required by NIOSH to co

existing existing class definition definition (such as possible possible problems problems w

implementation by DOL)

 Review specific to the criteria used in the SEC evaluat

report to develop the class definition (e.g., feasibility period, access controls, DOL implementation)
SEC Class Definition Review—

 Report Findings

• M t os of issues and discrepancies identified i

NIOSH report were associated with the evoluthe NIOSH process for defining a class in an S

Evaluation Report

—Early classes were closely related to the petitio

proposed class

—Early classes were established based on perceiv

limitations and sometimes without the review 

to ensure they could be implemented as writte

• Over time, the need to expand and/or adjust 

proposed SEC class to address DOL class

implementation issues was recognized to en

claimants were not inadvertently excluded
SEC Class Definition Review—

 SEC0028 class definition:

Department of Energy (DOE) employees or DOE contra

subcontractor employees who were monitored or shobeen monitored for: thorium exposures while working 

Building Building 9201‐3, 9202, 9204‐1, 9204‐3, 9206, or 9212 afor a number of work days aggregating at least 250 wo

from January 1948 through December 1957, or in com

with work days within the parameters parameters established established for 

more classes of employees in the SEC; or radionuclideexposures associated with cyclotron operations in Bui

9201‐2 at Y‐12 for a number of work days aggregating 

250 work days from January 1948 through December in combination with work days within the parameters

established for one or more classes of employees in th
SEC Class Definition Review—

 The current SEC class is recommended to r

the restriction on the class definition of

SEC‐0028 using today’s criteria

• SEC‐0028 class definition specifies job types an

location

• A il va able employment records do not generally

indicate work location

• Worker movements movements across the site undocumen

undocumen
Feasibility of Dose Reconstruct

 Feasibility of Dose Reconstructions:

• NIOSH lacks sufficient monitoring, process, o

information for various Y‐12 operations to esinternal radiation doses to Y‐12 employees fo

period of January 1, 1948 through December 

1957

• SEC‐0028: infeasibility was d ir ven by the inab

bound internal exposures from thorium operand cyclotron operations

• NIOSH will use any internal and external indi

personal monitoring data for partial dose

reconstructions as appropriate
Feasibility Summary

Feasibility Findings for SEC-00186 

Dose 

Source of Exposure Reconstruction Feasible Dose Recon

NOT Fea

Internal Internal 

X 

External 

- Beta-Gamma X - Neutron X - Occupational 

Medical X-ray X 
Health Endangerment

 The evidence reviewed in this evaluation indic

that some workers in the class may have

accumultd a e chronic radiation exposures th 

ro

intakes of radionuclides and direct exposure t

radioactive materials.

 Consequently, NIOSH is specifying that health 

have been endangered for those workers cove

this eval ti ua on who were employed for a num

work days aggregating at least 250 work days the parameters established for this class or in

combination with work days within the param

established for one or more other classes ofemployees in the SEC .
Recommendation

 For the period January 1, 1948

– December 31

NIOSH finds that radiation radiation dose estimates estimates can

reconstructed for compensation purposes

Class Feasibility Health Endang

Januar

y

1, 1948

–

December 31, 1957

N

o

Yes