Electro Metallurgical Corporation: 

Special Exposure Cohort 

Petition Evaluation

(Report 00136-Rev 1)

Sam Glover, PhD

Research Health Scientist 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Office of Compensation Analysis and Support

February 2012

Oakland, CA
Electro Metallurgical

 Site History

• Electro Metallurgical Corporation (Electromet) 

was located in Niagara Falls, New York and 

began uranium operations in 1942 under 

contract with the Manhattan Engineer District 

(MED).

• From August 13, 1942 through June 1953, the 

plant intermittently produced uranium metal 

from uranium tetrafluoride, in a thermal 

reduction process employing magnesium.
Electro Metallurgical—cont.

• Electromet was subsequently acquired by 

Union Carbide, which was acquired, in turn, by 

Dow Chemical.

• 1942-1951: Uranium operations were carried 

out, with two standby periods. On June 30, 

1953, all AEC operations formally ceased.

• Uranium was the only significant radioactive 

material present at Electromet.
Petition Overview

 November 17, 2008: petition received

 December 8, 2008: additional petition received

 March 12, 2009: petition received on November 

17, 2008, qualified for evaluation and was 

merged with the petition received on December 

8, 2008

 July 23, 2009: Evaluation Report issued

 July 2009: SC&A issued a report reviewing the 

evaluation report

 October 2009: Evaluation Report presented to 

the Advisory Board
Petition Overview—cont. 

 The Advisory Board Working Group has met 

several times to discuss various issues 

regarding Electromet

 November 2011: NIOSH notified the Working 

Group of its intent to propose that a portion of 

the covered period at Electromet be added to as 

class

 January 31, 2012: Revision 1 of the NIOSH 

Evaluation Report issued

 February 21, 2012: SC&A issued a partial 

review of the revised NIOSH Evaluation Report
Proposed SEC Class

 Petitioner proposed class definition:

“All workers who worked in any area at 

the Electro Metallurgical Corporation 

facility from August 13, 1942 through 

December 31, 1953.”

 Class evaluated by NIOSH:

“All workers who worked in any area at 

the Electro Metallurgical Corporation 

facility from August 13, 1942 through June 

30, 1953.”
Sources of Available Information

 DOE Legacy Management Considered 

Sites and Office of Scientific and 

Technical Information database (OSTI)

 ORAU Team Technical Information 

Bulletins, Procedures, and the Technical 

Basis Documents

 Electromet Plant Health Protection 

Surveys, safety standards, and operating 

procedures
Sources of Available Information—cont.

 NIOSH Site Research Database 

documents

 Interviews with former Electromet 

employees

 Case files in NIOSH OCAS Claims 

Tracking System

 Documentation provided by petitioners
Availability of Dosimetry Data

NIOSH OCAS Claims Tracking System 

Information available as of February 16, 2012

 Electromet claims submitted to NIOSH 104

 Dose reconstructions completed 102

 Claims containing internal dosimetry 1

 Claims containing external dosimetry 1

 Claims completed with POC >50% 48
Petition Bases/Concerns

 Few workers were monitored for external 

exposure in the Manhattan Engineer 

District (MED)/Atomic Energy Commission 

(AEC)/Department of Energy (DOE) period

 Effectiveness of worker health protection 

and industrial health programs
Unmonitored Workers

 Summary of monitoring at Electromet

• Monitored workers intermittently to establish 

exposure levels

• Issued dosimeters to employees in 1944 and 1948-

1949, and some results are available

• Some urinalysis data are available for 1944 and 

1949

• Major improvements in processes to protect 

worker health were documented to occur in late 

1947
Unmonitored Workers—cont.

• Only a handful of air sample data of either 

Breathing Zone (BZ) or General Area (GA) type 

are available prior to 1948.

—The air data is at odds with the later air data 

(collected after health improvements), it lends very 

little credibility for its use or that it was useful at the 

time to determine which workers should have been 

monitored

• Data and monitoring programs after 1948 are 

much better documented

• Early urine data available to NIOSH collected 

from a single campaign
Unmonitored Workers—cont. 

 While a portion of the population was monitored, 

it is not possible to determine if the highest 

exposed workers were monitored nor is there a 

group which would constitute an appropriate 

surrogate data or coworker group
Air Sampling at Electro Metallurgical
Comparison of Early and Late Air 

Sampling Data by Type
Bioassay Data Availability
External Dose

 NIOSH has several 

thousand external 

dosimetry measurements 

(primarily from the 2nd

operational period)

 The available external 

data and process 

knowledge allow for a 

boundable dose to be 

determined

 The Technical Basis 

Document for Electromet 

will be updated
Medical dose

 Electro Metallurgical has several references 

describing the medical program (preemployment, annual, and termination X-rays)

 TIB 6, Dose Reconstruction from 

Occupational Medical X-ray Procedures, 

shall be used used with site specific 

information to evaluate medical dose during 

the entire covered period
Summary of Findings

 NIOSH has determined that neither the 

bioassay nor the early limited air sampling 

data are sufficient to bound the dose at 

Electromet for the period August 13, 1942 

through December 31, 1947
Evaluation Process

 Two-Prong Test established by EEOICPA 

and incorporated into 42 C.F.R. § 83.13 

(c)(1) and 42 C.F.R. § 83.13 (c)(3):

1. Is it feasible to estimate the level of radiation 

doses of individual members of the class with 

sufficient accuracy?

2. Is there a reasonable likelihood that such 

radiation dose may have endangered the 

health of members of the class?
Feasibility of Dose Reconstructions

 NIOSH finds it is not feasible to estimate internal 

exposures with sufficient accuracy for all workers at the 

site from August 13, 1942 through December 31, 1947. 

 Internal monitoring data, work area radiological 

monitoring data, and source term data are not sufficient 

to provide a sufficiently accurate estimate of the 

bounding internal dose during this early period at 

Electromet. 
Feasibility of Dose 

Reconstructions—cont. 

 With the exception of this class, per EEOICPA and 42 

C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH has established that it has 

access to sufficient information to: 

(1) estimate the maximum radiation dose, for every type of 

cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed, that 

could have been incurred in plausible circumstances by any 

member of the class; or 

(2) estimate radiation doses more precisely than an estimate of 

maximum dose. Information available from the site profile 

and additional resources is sufficient to document or estimate 

the maximum internal and external potential exposure to 

members of the evaluated class under plausible 

circumstances during the specified period from January 1, 

1948 through June 30, 1953.
Proposed Class

All employees of the Department of Energy, its 

predecessor agencies, and their contractors and 

subcontractors who worked at the Electro 

Metallurgical site in Niagara Falls, New York, for the 

period from August 13, 1942 through December 31, 

1947, for a number of work days aggregating at least 

250 work days, occurring either solely under this 

employment, or in combination with work days within 

the parameters established for one or more other 

classes of employees in the Special Exposure 

Cohort.
Summary

Feasibility Findings for ElectroMet Petition SEC-00136 

August 13, 1942 – June 30, 1953

Source of Exposure Reconstruction 

Feasible

Reconstruction 

NOT Feasible

Internal

 - Uranium 1/1/1948-6/30/1953 8/13/1942-

12/31/1947

External

 - Gamma/Photon All years

 - Beta All years

 - Neutron N/A

 - Occ. Medical X-ray All years