Office of Compensation Analysis and 

Support 

Document Number: Battelle-TBD-6001 

Appendix C 

Effective Date: 12/21/2007 

Revision No. 0 

Site Profiles for Atomic Weapons Employers that Refined 

Uranium and Thorium - Appendix C 

Electro Metallurgical Company 

Page 1 of 8 

Document Owner: David Allen 

Approval:__ Signature on file_____ Date: _12/18/2007

 J.W. Neton, Associate Director for Science 

Supersedes: None 

RECORD OF ISSUE/REVISIONS 

ISSUE 

AUTHORIZATION 

DATE 

12/21/2007 

EFFECTIVE 

DATE 

12/21/2007 

REV. NO. 

0 

DESCRIPTION 

Appendix to Battelle-TBD-6001 describing 

the use of the TBD for claims at Electro 

Metallurgical Company 

C.1 Introduction 

This document serves as an appendix to Battelle-TBD-6001, Site Profiles for Atomic 

Weapons Employers that Refined Uranium and Thorium. This appendix describes the 

results of document research specific to this site. Where specific information is lacking, 

research into similar facilities described in the body of this Site Profile is used. 

C.2 Site Description 

The Electro Metallurgical Company uranium operations were located south of Pine Ave 

and east of its intersection with Packard Road, Niagara Falls, New York. Available 

information indicates that all uranium operations (including the business office, 

lunchroom, and shipping areas) were conducted within a single building. The building 

was a one-story cinder block and wood structure, which measured approximately 50 feet 

by 219 feet located in an area now occupied by the current Building 166 of the Union 

Carbide Corporation building complex.( Ref ID 16282). Initial furnace operations for 

uranium processing began in April 1943 (RefID 4125, p31) and at full operations three 

shifts per day were run. 

C.2.1 Site Activities 

The plant was to take uranium tetrafluoride and convert it to uranium metal by heating 

the uranium salt with magnesium and casting into 110-135 kilogram ingots. Contract 

MED W-7405-Eng-14 initiated design, engineering, construction, and operation of the 

plant. (RefID 16282, p 2,3). Uranium production at the Electro Metallurgical Company 
 

Document No. Battelle-TBD-6001; 

Appendix C 

Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 12/21/2007 Page 2 

began in April 1943 and appears to have run continuously until August 1946. Uranium 

production operations were suspended from August 1946 to October 1947 (RefID 

16282). Operations continued from October 1947 until production was stopped on 

September 28, 1949 and placed in standby on September 30, 1949. 

In April 1950, the UF4-to-metal plant was reactivated for casting zirconium metal sponge 

into ingots for the Navy Critical Requirement program. The zirconium metal operations 

did not pose a radiological hazard other than exposure to residual uranium remaining 

since cessation of uranium operations in 1949. Uranium handling from JanuaryJune1951 may have occurred based on contract that: “... directed Union Carbide to 

conduct research and development of methods of forming metal that would minimize 

unnecessary machining, finishing, and waste”. Although the contract is not specific, the 

metal involved is presumed to be uranium. 

The AEC involvement with the site ended when contract W-7405-Eng. 14 expired on 

June 30, 1953 (RefID 16282). No documentation was found indicating there were other 

sources of radiation at Electro Metallurgical during the covered period between 1942 and 

1953. 

Operational and standby periods are outlined in the table below. For the purposes of dose 

reconstruction, time periods in which no uranium work was occurring are defined as 

standby even though other processes were occurring. 

Table C.1 – Operating History 

Start Stop 

Operations 4/1/1943 8/31/1946 

Standby 9/1/1946 9/30/1947 

Operations 10/1/1947 9/30/1949 

Standby 10/1/1949 1/1/1951 

Operations 1/1/1951 6/30/1951 

Standby 6/30/1951 6/30/1953 

C.3 Occupational Medical Dose 

A memo reviewing the medical program at Electro Metallurgical was written by the 

MED in 1945 (RefID 21849). The memo recommended pre-employment, annual and 

termination x-rays. No information regarding occupational medical dose was found in 

any of the site research or CATI materials. Information to be used in dose 

reconstructions, for which no specific information is available, is provided in ORAUTOTIB-0006, the dose reconstruction project technical information bulletin covering 

diagnostic x-ray procedures. The assumed frequency in this document is preemployment, annual and termination x-rays between the years 1942 and 1953 (the 

covered period). 

C.4 Occupational External Dose 

Film badge results were found for operators at Electro Metallurgical taken between June 

1948 and September 1949. While some reports included operator names and job titles, 

others did not. In order to include all the data, all badge readings were combined into one 

large population. This appears to be reasonable from the statistics developed from the 

population. Badges were issued weekly and both photon (gamma) and electron (beta) 

radiation was measured. 
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Appendix C 

Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 12/21/2007 Page 3 

The data set was assumed to be lognormally distributed. When analyzed, the geometric 

mean of the distribution was 20.06 mr/week photons and 64.43 mr/week beta. The 

geometric standard deviation for the weekly readings was 2.30 and 3.13 respectively. 

Since the badge results that did have job descriptions associated with them represented a 

mixture of job types, it is possible that assigning the distribution would underestimate 

some workers while overestimating others. Therefore, workers will be assigned to one of 

three categories, Operators, Supervisors and laborers, and Others. Operators are those 

that routinely worked directly with uranium. The supervisors and laborers category is for 

workers that were routinely in the areas where uranium operations occurred but were not 

routinely handling uranium directly. Maintenance personnel fall into this category. The 

Others category is for personnel that did not routinely enter the areas where uranium was 

handled. Operators are assigned the 95th percentile of the annual dose. Supervisors and 

laborers are assigned the 50th percentile of the distribution and the Others category is 

assigned the 5th percentile of the distributions. Since these represent bounding estimates, 

the dose is assigned as a constant. 

Uranium operations were suspended three times during the covered period at the site. 

Since operations were suspended, it is unlikely anyone routinely handled uranium or 

uranium processing equipment. Also, the uranium inventory was likely reduced if not 

eliminated. Therefore, during those times, all personnel will be assigned dose based on 

the “Other” category. This is intended to account for external dose that would be 

received from residual uranium contamination that may have remained. Also, uranium 

operations did not start until April 1943. Therefore, no external dose will be assigned 

before then. 

C.5 Occupational Internal Dose 

Air samples were collected in various areas of the plant in 1948 and 1949. These air 

samples were combined with time motion studies of various tasks to obtain a daily 

weighted average of the air concentration inhaled. For this exposure estimate, these tasks 

were broken up into three categories of tasks, Operator, Supervisor/Laborer, and Other. 

The Operator category is for those that routinely handled uranium or operated uranium 

processing equipment. The Supervisor/Laborer category is for those that are routinely in 

the uranium handling areas and did handle uranium or uranium processing equipment but 

not on a routine bases. Examples of people fitting this category are foremen, guards, 

maintenance personal and janitors. Laboratory technicians and chemist also fit this 

category because they are routinely handling uranium but not in production quantities. 

The third category of personnel is “Other”. This is for those that do not routinely enter 

the uranium production areas. Examples of this are office personnel and store room 

attendants. 

The daily weighted air samples were divided into these three categories. The distribution 

from each group of air samples was determined. Because there was a limited number of 

samples, the 95th percentile of each distribution will be assigned. Because this represents 

a bounding assumption, the value will be assigned as a constant. These values will also 

be used to estimate ingestion intakes per the requirements of OCAS-TIB-009. 

Uranium operations were suspended three times during the covered period at the site. 

Since operations were suspended, it is unlikely anyone routinely handled uranium or 

uranium processing equipment. Also, the uranium inventory was likely reduced if not 

eliminated. Therefore, during those times, all personnel will be assigned dose based on 
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Appendix C 

Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 12/21/2007 Page 4 

the “Other” category. This is intended to account for internal dose that would be received 

from residual uranium contamination that may have remained. Also, uranium operations 

did not start until April 1943. Therefore, no internal dose will be assigned before then. 

For internal dose estimates, the uranium will be considered to be type M or type S 

solubility. The dose estimate should be based on the one that produces the highest dose. 

The time weighted averages indicated a normal work day of 515 minutes, 8 hours work 

plus 20 minutes for lunch and 15 minutes in the locker room to change cloths. The dose 

estimate will be based on this 515 minutes per day, 5 days per week and 50 weeks per 

year. 

C.6 References 

1. DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security, EEOICPA web site. 

http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/fwsp/advocacy/faclist/findfacility.cfm 

2. NIOSH, 2007, Radiation exposures covered for Dose Reconstructions under Part B 

of the Energy employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act Rev. 0, 

OCAS-IG-003, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Office of 

Compensation Analysis and Support, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

3. NIOSH, 2004, Estimation of Ingestion Intakes Rev. 0, OCAS-TIB-009, National 

Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Office of Compensation Analysis and 

Support, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

4.	 RefID 4125 Atomic Energy Commission, 1951, The Production of Uranium Feed 

Materials, May 22, 1951 

5.	 RefID 16282 UMETCO Minerals Corporation, History UMETCO Minerals Co. 

Former Electro Metallurgical, Niagara Falls 

6.	 RefID 21849 B. J. Mears, 1945, Memo to Area Engineer, Tonawanda Area, May 4, 

1945 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6001; Appendix C Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 12/21/2007 

Table C.2 INTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Inhalation of Airborne Radionuclides Assumptions: Intakes are in dpm per calendar day. Dose entered into IREP as alpha radiation Dose value is a constant (no distribution) 

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase 

Relevant 

Nuclide 

Intake 

(dpm/d) TBD Reference or Research Jus

Operators See table C.1 Operations U234 60661 Air sample data Supervisors/Laborers See table C.1 Operations U234 8159 Air sample data Other See table C.1 Operations U234 473 Air sample data All See table C.1 Standby U234 473 Air sample data 
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Appendix C 

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Table C3 INTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Ingestion Assumptions: Intakes are in dpm per calendar day. Dose entered into IREP as alpha radiation Dose value is a constant (no distribution) 

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase 

Relevant 

Nuclide 

Intake 

(dpm/d) TBD Reference or Research Jus

Operators See table C.1 Operations U234 1178 Air sample data 

Supervisors/Laborers See table C.1 Operations U234 158 Air sample data Office See table C.1 Operations U234 9.2 Air sample data All See table C.1 Standby U234 9.2 Air sample data 
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Appendix C 

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Table C.4 EXTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Whole Body Based on weekly film badge results and 50 weeks per year of work. 

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase 

Whole body 

(mr/yr) TBD Reference or Research Justification 

Operators See table C.1 Operations 3934 Film badge data Supervisors/Laborers See table C.1 Operations 1003 Film badge data Office See table C.1 Operations 256 Film badge data 

All See table C.1 Standby 256 Film badge data 
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Appendix C 

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Table C.5 EXTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Skin Assumptions: Based on weekly film badge results and 50 weeks per year of work. Doses are entered into IREP as Electron >15kev These doses are in addition to the Whole Body doses in Table C.4 

Job Category 

Operators 

Year 

See table C.1 

Operation 

Phase 

Operations 

Other Skin 

(mr/yr) TBD Reference or Research Justification 

21030 Film badge data 

Supervisors/Laborers See table C.1 Operations 3221 Film badge data Office See table C.1 Operations 493 Film badge data 

All See table C.1 Standby 493 Film badge data