Brookhaven National Laborat

Special Exposure Cohort
 

Petition Evaluation Report

Grady Calhoun, CHP
 

Supervisory Health Scientist
 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Division of Compensation Analysis and Support
 

February 2012
 

Oakland, CA
 
Petition Overview
 

	 October 27, 2011: NIOSH informed a Brook

National Laboratory (BNL) claimant that w

unable to reconstruct the radiation dose fo

claim

	 November 3, 2011: NIOSH received an 83.

petition

	 November 4, 2011: petition qualified for

evaluation

	 January 11, 2012: NIOSH Evaluation Repor

issued
Petition Overview—cont.
 

 NIOSH proposed class to be added to t

All employees of the Department of Energy, its

predecessor agencies, and its contractors andsubcontractors who worked in any area at BrookNational Laboratory in Upton, New York, from Ja1980 to December 31, 1993, for a number of woaggregating at least 250 work days, occurring eitsolely under this employment, or in combination work days within the parameters established fomore other classes of employees in the Special ECohort
Background
 

	 BNL is located in Upton, New York on a 5,265 

site

	 BNL’s early research focused on advanced phy

but expanded into its current suite of research fields of medicine, biology, chemistry, physics

materials science, nuclear engineering, and

environmental research

	 BNL was organized into departments that pro

research nuclear reactors, particle accelerator

engineering facilities in support of the BiologyChemistry, Physics, Medical, Applied Science,

Accelerator, and Applied Mathematics Depart
Background—cont.
 

	 The major scientific facilities operated at BNL 

carry out the various scientific programs durintime period under evaluation were:

•	 The High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) that was fue

with enriched uranium, moderated and cooled b

water, and operated at a routine power level of 

•	 The Medical Research Reactor (MRR), an integra

the Medical Research Center (MRC), that was fu

with enriched uranium, moderated and cooled b

natural water, and operated intermittently at polevels up to 3 MW
Background—cont.
 

• The Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS), a 

accelerator that operated at energies up to 33 

•	 The 200 MeV Proton Linac, that served as an in

for the AGS, was supplied a continuous beam oprotons for radionuclide production by spallatreactions in the Brookhaven Linac IsotopesProduction Facility (BLIP) and in the Chemistry Irradiation Facility (CLIF)
Background—cont.
 

•	 The Tandem Van de Graaff, Vertical Accelerato

Chemistry Van de Graaff, were used in medium

energy physics investigations as well as for spe

radionuclide production

•	 The National Synchrotron Light Source project 

used a linear accelerator and booster synchrotan injection system for two electron storage rioperating at energies of 700 MeV vacuum ultr(VUV) and 2.5 GeV (X‐ray) was used for spectroin the VUV ring and for diffraction studies in thring
Background—cont.
 

	 There is currently one other SEC class associat

with Brookhaven National Laboratory:

•	 All employees of the Department of Energy, its

predecessor agencies, and its contractors and

subcontractors who worked at Brookhaven Nation

Laboratory in Upton, New York, from January 1, 19

December 31, 1979, for a number of work days

aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring eithe

under this employment, or in combination with wo

within the parameters established for one or more 

classes of employees in the Special Exposure Coho(SEC‐00113)
Background—cont.
 

 SEC‐00113 Evaluation Report was presente

the October 2009 Advisory Board meeting

	 NIOSH recommended a class of “all emplo

for the period of 1947 through 1979

• The end date was based on improved internal
 

monitoring data availability starting in 1980
 

•	 NIOSH committed to continue to review the

information to ensure a proper end date for th
Feasibility of Dose Reconstruc

	 Site‐specific and claimant‐specific data ava

for BNL for the time period under evaluati

insufficient to allow NIOSH to determine t

any specific work group was not potentiall

exposed to radioactive material releases o

possible subsequent contamination
Feasibility of Dose Reconstruc

	 Personnel were monitored for external

exposures from the very beginning of operin early 1947 and external monitoring recoare available

	 Annual summary data has been collected f

1958 to the present

	 This data identifies the maximum exposur

each year, thus bounding the external expo
Feasibility of Dose Reconstructi

	 The external exposure data submitted in

response to claims is very complete for the

monitored population

	 The monitored population includes all of t

that would have been expected to receive

exposure over the history of operations at 
Feasibility of Dose Reconstructi

	 There are insufficient monitoring and sour

term data from which to draw conclusions

regarding potential magnitude of internal for the period from January 1, 1980 througDecember 31, 1993

	 Due to undocumented worker movements

across the site and limited claimant‐specif

information pertaining to work locations, N

is unable to eliminate any specific worker f

potential exposure scenarios based on asswork location
Feasibility of Dose Reconstructi

	 Although an internal monitoring program

appears to have been active throughout th

period under evaluation, the program was formally documented

	 Documentation available to NIOSH sugges

there was an operational internal monitorprogram during the period under evaluatiopersonnel data management practices (i.e

of centralized databases) preclude the

summarization and presentation of total inmonitoring data availability
Feasibility Summary 

Internal 

X 

External 

- Beta-Gamma X 

- Neutron X - Occupational 

Medical X-ray 

X 

Feasibility Findings for BNL from 

January 1, 1980 through December 31, 1993 

Source of Exposure 

Dose 

Reconstruction 

Feasible 

Dose Recon

NOT Fea
Health Endangerment
 

	 The evidence reviewed in this evaluation

indicates that some workers in the class m

have accumulated chronic radiation expos

through intakes of radionuclides and direc

exposure to radioactive materials

	 Consequently, NIOSH is specifying that hea

may have been endangered for those work

covered by this evaluation who were empl

for a number of work days aggregating at l

250 work days within the parameters

established for this class or in combination 

work days within the parameters establish

one or more other classes of employees in 

SEC
Proposed Class
 

All employees of the Department of Energ

predecessor agencies, and its contractors a

subcontractors who worked in any area at

Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, 

York, from January 1, 1980 to December 3

1993, for a number of work days aggregatileast 250 work days, occurring either solel

under this employment, or in combination 

work days within the parameters establish

one or more other classes of employees in 

Special Exposure Cohort.
Recommendation

 For the period January 1, 1980 through

December 31, 1993, NIOSH finds that radiadose estimates cannot be reconstructed fo

compensation purposes

Class Feasibility Health Endangerm

January 1, 1980 – 

December 31, 1993 No Yes