National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

INL Temporary Badge Validation and 

Verification – Discussion Points

Timothy D. Taulbee, PhD, CHP

Research Health Scientist

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH)

Providence, Rhode Island| August 23, 2018
Goal of SEC Class Definition

 Identify workers who were potentially exposed to plutonium and 

other transuranics at CPP for 250 days. 

– To ensure we don’t miss anyone, we cast the net wide

• Single badge at CPP and 250 days employment

 Why single badge?

– Potential for some administrative personnel to be on annual 

dosimetry starting in 1966, thus 250 days might only have a 

single badge.

• Administrative personnel had low potential for transuranic 

exposure especially from process cells or labs. 
Goal of SEC Class Definition

 SEC Class definition identifies routine CPP workers with some 

potential for exposure to plutonium and transuranics but 

eliminates non-CPP workers with zero potential for transuranic 

exposure. For example:

– Workers 30 miles away in Test Area North

– Workers from Central Facilities, TRA, ARA 

 Simplified definition does include some workers who may not 

have 250 days of exposure at CPP. 

– Temporary Workers – most for few days up to one week

– At least 52 temp badges (weekly badges) for 250 days
Benefits of Simplified Definition

 Benefits of simplified single badge definition

– Routine workers have multiple badges (monthly)

– Mitigates misidentification issues due to incorrect name 

spellings on temporary badges

– Eases need to identify all temporary badges (illegibility)

 Low probability of missing 52 badges, thus a low probability of 

missing a worker truly exposed to transuranics for 250 days.
SEC Class Definition

 Potential concern of single badge class definition being too broad

– Again Includes workers that did not routinely work at CPP and 

who may not have 250 days of potential exposure

– Difficult to sort out actual dates by dosimetry

• Not impossible but requires more stringent criteria on 

finding and reading ALL handwritten badges
SC&A Evaluation - Results

SC&A 

Case ID

Expected # 

Badges

Actual # 

Badges

Percentage 

of Badges

Included in 

SEC

K 31 0 0 No

F 48 6 12.5 Yes

E 41 32 78 Yes

M 17 16 94.1 Yes

O 35 33 94.3 Yes

B 25 23 92 Yes

H 68 66 97.1 Yes

A 4 4 100 Yes

C 4 4 100 Yes

D 30 30 100 Yes

G 24 24 100 Yes

I 7 7 100 Yes

J 1 1 100 Yes

L 32 32 100 Yes

P 20 20 100 Yes

Q 25 25 100 Yes

S 1 1 100 Yes

T 7 7 100 Yes

 17/18 (94.4%) of CPP 

Temporary Workers identified 

and would be entered in the 

class

 1/18 (5.6%) Case K 

misidentified by DOE and 

under current review 

 Only one of the 18 workers has 

more than 250 days 
What would have happened with this one worker 

with missing badges?

1. Without the temporary badges indicating CPP work, DOL would 

have been determined was not part of the SEC and thus would be 

referred to NIOSH for Dose Reconstruction

2. During dose reconstruction NOCTS file indicates CPP work thus 

during dose reconstruction, an inquiry would be sent to DOL 

about SEC Class inclusion with CPP documentation from NOCTS 

file

3. DOL would have re-evaluated the classification

– Thus due to follow-up (check and balance) the worker would 

likely be in the SEC 
Case K -examination

 Having said all of this... DOE erred on case K

– DOE should have found at least 1 badge

– SCA found 31 badges, NIOSH found 32 badges 

– Based on 32 badges, Case K has a total of 95 work days at CPP 

over 4 years

– Temporary worker is part of current class definition, should be 

included but actually does not have 250 days of potential 

exposure

• Again casting a wide net to make sure a worker with 250 

days is not missed
Cases K

 Contacted DOE to figure out why?

– Initial response in October 2017 file had 296 pages

– June 2018 response had 281 

• (more than just temporary badges missing in 2nd response)

 DOE recognizes there is an issue with this case but is not certain as to 

the reason the temporary badges for CPP were missed and why the 

response was short 15 additional pages of dosimetry. 

– Committed to resend the full response for Case K

– Currently in process 
Case F

 Although Case F would be part of the SEC Class, only 6 of 48 

badges were found

 For Case F DOE only sent a partial response 

– Some Temp badges - not the full dosimetry files as requested

– May 2018 response was only 16 pages 

– October 2017 response was 531 pages

 DOE Committed to redo Case F and resend the full dosimetry file 

as they would for a new claim 
Summary

 NIOSH demonstrated completeness of dosimetry badges

– Routine Dosimetry Badges

– Construction Dosimetry Badges

– Temporary Badges

 SC&A’s V&V is of the Temporary Badges (group with highest vulnerability) 

to verify process

– 94.4% of temporary workers accurately placed by DOE in SEC with 

current definition

 DOE notified of missed badges and is reviewing process to improve 

accuracy to 100%