CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

ADVISORY BOARD ON RADIATION AND WORKER HEALTH

MEETING 152

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2023

The meeting convened at 11:00 a.m. EDT 

via video teleconference,

Dr. Henry Anderson, Chair, presiding.

Vet Reporting

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Members Present: 

Henry A. Anderson, Chair

Beach, Josie, Member

Cassano, Victoria, Member

Clawson, Brad Member

Frank, Arthur, Member

Kotelchuck, David, Member

Lockey, James, Member

Martinez, Nicole, Member

Pompa, David, Member

Roessler, Genevieve, Member

Valerio, Loretta, Member

Ziemer, Paul, Member

Registered and/or Public Comment Participants:

Roberts, Rashaun, DFO

Barton, Bob, SC&A

Buchanan, Ron, SC&A

Calhoun, Grady, DCAS

Gogliotti, Rose, SC&A

Habighurst, Ashton, HHS

Mangel, Amy, SC&A

Ostrow, Steve, SC&A

Registered Public:

Denise Degarmo
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health Meeting 152 ............................................ 1

Proceedings .......................................................................................................................................... 4

Welcome and Roll Call ................................................................................................................. 4

Cybersecurity Modernization Initiative.................................................................................. 7

Special Exposure Cohort Update ............................................................................................. 9

Work Group and Subcommittee Updates...........................................................................10

Plans for August Board Meeting.............................................................................................25
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PROCEEDINGS

(11:00 a.m) 

WELCOME AND ROLL CALL

DR. ROBERTS: Good morning, everyone. I'm Rashaun Roberts. I'm 

the designated federal official for the Advisory Board on Radiation and 

Worker Health and thank you for coming to the teleconference. Let me just 

get through a couple of things before we get to the roll call. The meeting 

agenda is posted on the NIOSH website for this program under schedule of 

meetings for this month, and you can go the website to access that agenda. 

As you know, this is -- this meeting is being conducted by telephone 

only. In order to keep it moving forward without interruption, I ask that each 

of you, please, mute your phones unless, of course, you're speaking. If you 

don't have a mute button, press star six to mute. If you need to take 

yourself off mute, press star six again. Also, because we're unable to see 

each other for this meeting, please, identify yourself before your comments 

or questions. So with that, I'd like to formally open the meeting. 

The primary purpose of this meeting is to prepare for the Board 

meeting in August, although there are other items, primarily updates, on 

today's agenda. So, because this is mainly an administrative meeting, we 

don't need to cover conflicts of interest in the roll call. So, with that, let me 

start roll call now, and I'm going to start with the Board Members in 

alphabetical order. So, we would start with Anderson.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Present. 

DR. ROBERTS: Beach? 
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MEMBER BEACH: I'm here. 

DR. ROBERTS: Cassano? 

MEMBER CASSANO: Present. 

DR. ROBERTS: Clawson? 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Here. 

DR. ROBERTS: Frank?

MEMBER FRANK: Present. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Here. 

DR. ROBERTS: Lockey? 

MEMBER LOCKEY: Here. 

DR. ROBERTS: Martinez? 

MEMBER MARTINEZ: I'm here, but just a quick note that I'll have to 

drop off early today for a student qualifying exam. 

DR. ROBERTS: Okay. Pompa? 

MEMBER POMPA: Yes, ma'am, present. 

DR. ROBERTS: Roessler? 

MEMBER ROESSLER: Here. 

DR. ROBERTS: Valerio? 

MEMBER VALERIO: Here. 

DR. ROBERTS: And Ziemer? 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Here. 

DR. ROBERTS: All right. It looks like we have full attendance, so let's 

move on to NIOSH/DCAS. Anyone like to register their attendance? 

MR. CALHOUN: This is Grady Calhoun, I'm here. 

MR. RUTHERFORD: This is LaVon Rutherford. 
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MR. NELSON: This is Chuck Nelson. 

DR. ROBERTS: Anyone else with NIOSH, DCAS, or ORAU? Okay. 

Let's move on to SC&A. 

MR. BARTON: Bob Barton, SC&A. 

DR. BUCHANAN: Ron Buchanan, SC&A. 

MR. FITZGERALD: Joe Fitzgerald, SC&A. 

MS. GOGLIOTTI: Rose Gogliotti, SC&A. 

MS. MANGEL: Amy Mangel, SC&A. 

MR. OSTROW: Steve Ostrow. 

DR. ROBERTS: Anyone else with SC&A? Let's move on to HHS and 

contractors. 

MS. HABIGHURST: Ashton Habighurst, HHS. 

DR. ROBERTS: Any other persons from HHS or contractors? Okay. 

How about Department of Labor, Department of Energy, other departments? 

Hearing none, let me ask if there are members of the public who are on and 

who would also like to register their attendance. Okay, well, hearing none, 

let's go ahead and move on with the agenda. Before we do that, again, 

please periodically check your phone to make sure you're on mute. If you 

don't have a mute button, press star six. If you need to take yourself off, 

press star six again. 

And with that, without any further delay, I will turn the floor over to 

Dr. Henry Anderson, who is our Board's chair, to lead us through the 

agenda.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Thanks, Rashaun. I want to welcome everybody 

to Meeting 152 of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health. It 
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should be a relatively short meeting. We're going to be focusing on the 

Board meeting that will be coming up face to face in August and some 

updates on other activities as well. 

So, let's begin with the cyber security modernization initiative. Grady? 

CYBERSECURITY MODERNIZATION INITIATIVE

MR. CALHOUN: Yeah, thank you, Dr. Anderson. Basically, what we 

started going is we're focusing on the site research database function first. 

And although we did have some functionality, that is about to improve at 

least a little bit. We have managed to arrange that the documents are 

synched -- synchronized nightly so that we have the current documents. 

And we've got a somewhat improved method to search for the documents, 

and Angela Shepherd is going to contact Rose -- that seems to work the 

best -- Rose Gogliotti to try to show her where these documents are located 

and how to go about the new searches. So, although it's not nearly as fast 

and efficient as it used to be, I think it's an improvement over what we have 

at this moment. So, that's happening -- she should probably be contacting 

you in the next week. So, that's really all that I have on that.

We're continuing to look through ways of re-establishing what used to 

be called NOCTS, which is our claim tracking system. N.O.C.T.S., for the 

court reporter. And we are also looking at ways to try to restore the Board 

review system, which we had used to capture comments that we have 

between Advisory Board, SC&A, and ourselves on documents and other 

things. So, that's where are. It always moves a little slower than I'd like it 

to, but that's where we are right now. That's all I... 
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CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. So, a little bit sure of progress. Next will 

be an update on special cohort status. Chuck? So, -- 

MR. NELSON: Thank you, Doctor. It's -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- (indiscernible) -- 

MEMBER BEACH: Can I ask Grady a quick question. 

MR. CALHOUN: Of course. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Go ahead. 

MEMBER BEACH: Sorry. Grady, you did mention the BRS, which was 

my big question. Do you have any idea what the time frame looks like on 

that? I know you're trying to get access, but I'm just curious -- 

MR. CALHOUN: Yeah, -- 

MEMBER BEACH: -- on -- 

MR. CALHOUN: No, no, just honestly, I don't think it'll be a while --

for a while. So, this is one of those items that we had a meeting, I think it 

was, last week, with the ODIT and Dr. Howard, and we -- we called this up 

into one of the higher priority lines items we need to get evaluated. The 

thing of it is, is we just don't know if we can take the old one, stand it up 

somewhere and make it accessible, or if we have to rewrite everything 

(indiscernible). And so, basically the process is -- and take this from a nonIT person, which is me -- is that they -- they will do a variety of scans to 

make sure that they meet all the security requirements, and those scans will 

help identify whether repairs or remediation can be done too utilize existing 

systems with some modification, or if we have to start from -- from zero. 

So, right now our top priority is FRTB, and then I think the BRS is 

going to probably be -- worked next, just because NOCTS is -- is a monster. 
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It's just so big. And so, that's where we are. I'll continue to give -- give 

updates, and if we have any breakthroughs, I can give those without there 

being a meeting, you know. 

MEMBER BEACH: Okay. All right. Thank you. 

MR. NELSON: Okay. This is Chuck -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Any other questions? 

MR. NELSON: -- Nelson. I was going to -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Go ahead, Chuck. 

SPECIAL EXPOSURE COHORT UPDATE

MR. NELSON: Sorry about that. Can everybody hear me okay then? 

Okay. I will assume -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: I can -- 

MR. NELSON: -- everyone can. Hello, everyone. Thank you. For the 

August 2023 Advisory Board meeting, we will not be presenting any new 

SEC petitions. We haven't gotten any recently. There is an upcoming data 

capture trip at Idaho National LAB. It's the week of June 26 to 30th. I know 

a couple work group members will be in attendance, along with NIOSH and 

ORAU.

And I know there's a work group meeting for Metals and Controls. I 

believe it is July 13, 2023, and I'm sure that will be discussed with the 

updates for the work group chairs. So, other than that, any -- I'm expecting 

the work group chairs will provide updates as needed on the current SEC 

petitions that are with the Advisory Board. So, that's really all I have. Are 

there any questions? Okay. Hearing none, -- 
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CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah, -- 

MR. NELSON: -- thank you. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- thanks, Chuck. 

WORK GROUP AND SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES

CHAIR ANDERSON: So, now the next is updates for work groups and 

subcommittees. There's a couple of -- of work group subcommittee 

meetings coming up, procedures, I think, on June 21, which is pretty close. 

And I saw others. Committee chairs want to give updates? 

MEMBER BEACH: So, Henry, this is Josie. You're correct, I was just 

gonna give the meeting date. So, the procedures subcommittee will be June 

21st, and then M&C, we're working on the agenda now. That's up July 13th, 

so those are both correct. And that's all I have. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: As far as such that -- I mean, just to give you 

some thoughts that I had and some discussions that have occurred -- as this 

is for the -- for the new members. We'll get an update from Dave on the 

case reviews, but I understand that none of the new members were able to 

make any of those calls. 

The case reviews, there's an opportunity there, I think it's a really a --

a good introduction to how things are done and now NIOSH does their 

activities and those reviews done by SC&A are -- are quite detailed. And I 

just wanted to raise the issue that since none of the new members have, 

sort of, been able to sit in kind a core activity that's ongoing that the Board 

oversees is these does reconstructions and case preparation, it might be a 

good idea to do a special, kind of, training program and talk to Rose a bit 
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about doing that to choose a -- some of the, kinda, example cases that have 

been done to be able to walk through for the new members exactly how 

these doors reconstructions occur. 

And that might be a very useful hour or two to spend, go over that, 

ask questions so you get a good sense of the complexity of these dose 

reconstructions and the data that goes into it and how decision -- decisions 

are made. And I would hope you'd then come to appreciate the -- the 

accuracy that these occur following the procedures and the guidance that's 

out there and that done blindly by SC&A, the vast majority of these arrive at 

the same conclusion. So even though it's a complex process, it's done in a 

manner that can be reproduced, which is very important. 

So, that kind of leads to the second issue. If you have time, the 

procedures committee is the one that reviews, kind of, the underlying 

guidance for the dose reconstructors. And you may want to just listen in to 

the procedures committee, that being on the 21st, just to give a sense of --

you don't necessarily have to participate, but if you -- I don't remember 

who's been added to -- to that committee. But again, it gives you a good 

sense of, kind of, historically how things have operated and give you an 

opportunity to raise some questions about the procedures, and others. So, 

that's just one thing I want the Board to think about. If you think it's a good 

idea, we could ask SC&A and Rose to put together a training program based 

on the dose reconstructions that they have reviewed, to walk through 

exactly how these are done. Because I'm -- I'm not sure that new members 

have had an opportunity to be, kind of, trained or briefed on how that is. 

You have to know, you won't be expected to ever generate these on your 
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own. And you'll get an appreciation of why I say that when you go through 

these and see the complexity that's developed and the guidance to be sure 

that things are reproducible over the many years that that program has 

been operating. Any thoughts on that? 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Henry, this is Paul Ziemer. I have some thoughts 

on that, if I might make a few comments? 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Sure. Yeah, well, actually, I was a little 

disappointed that the schedules were such that the new members weren't 

able to participate, but I think your idea of -- of maybe doing a, kind of, 

mock up of some of these recent ones. And I actually -- I had mentioned 

that to Rose, too, during one of our -- one of our own little group workouts, 

that I think it'd be good if we could have at least some examples for the new 

members to go through. Keeping in mind that -- of -- of our responsibilities 

in reporting our findings overall to the Secretary of Health and Human 

Services, that the dose reconstructions themselves -- and we -- we end up 

having contractors do those, but we have to audit that, and it's a very 

important part of what we do is, is that audit, which is done with the help of 

SC&A. So, I think that's critical to what we do as a Board, it's very 

important for the new members to get involved in that, just -- just as we 

want everybody to be involved in the activities involving the SECs and when 

we can't do dose reconstructions and how we go about determining that we 

can't do them is -- is also important. But this is a very critical part of what 

we do, so I think it's -- what you suggest is really gonna be worthwhile for 

the new Board members. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Yes. This is Dave Kotelchuck. I think this is 
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a -- that's a great idea, Andy and -- and Paul. And in my mind, the question 

is should we have a special training meeting with a few new reviews that the 

Board goes over, or should we do a special training meeting and then review 

a couple of the old ones that we've already done. The question is whether 

we want to add -- whether we want to get -- have everyone from the dose 

reconstruction reviews subcommittee participate in that special training or 

whether it be essentially a one time for new members -- new members to 

the Board and other members who want to participate. What do folks think? 

How should we do it? How -- how would you suggest that we do it? Should 

we just do one special training with no new cases, or start a few new cases? 

Do a special training first, and then start with a few new cases to review? 

MEMBER CLAWSON: This is Brad. We're -- we're gonna have -- we're 

gonna have several new cases coming up. We're going to be able to have 

the opportunity to be able to do this. My question is, is all the Board --

members Board members have access, and are they able to see information 

now? That's -- because I believe that was one of the biggest holdups right 

there, is that didn't have access yet. And so, -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Yeah. I -- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: -- my question -- my question is, do they all 

have it, Rashaun? 

DR. ROBERTS: Yes, they did gain access to the system some time 

ago. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Okay. So, that's just -- 

MEMBER FRANK: Yes, this is just -- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Yeah, go ahead. 
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MEMBER FRANK: I was just going to say -- this is Arthur Frank, one of 

the new Board members -- you know, we had this question come up at our 

last call of -- of participating when we weren't actively involved with the 

activity that was part of the meeting. And we have a long discussion. I wish 

we would have given -- been given more notice about the 21st. I -- I 

personally -- if we could set up a date where new members could learn this 

process, either with a past case study or a new one, but something that's 

scheduled that we can properly participate. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Yeah, that would -- 

MEMBER MARTINEZ: (Indiscernible) -- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: -- I'm not -- 

MEMBER MARTINEZ: Can I -- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Go ahead. 

MEMBER MARTINEZ: This is Nicole Martinez. I'm also a new Board 

member. I agree with that. And also, I think one of the issues that -- I love 

the idea of having the training as -- as was suggested, and it will be really 

useful to have, like -- as -- as previous member said, a little bit more of a 

heads up, and so I can either rearrange my schedule or -- or put it in a slot 

in my schedule but -- because I personally think one of the issues is, like, 

the logistics as well, because sometimes I'll just be sent a meeting invite 

that says one on one and I -- without a lot of context, so I don't really know 

what that is and if I should rearrange my schedule to try to join it and things 

like that. So, if we were to have another training session with the dose 

reconstruction process, like how that works as well in these one on ones, I 

think -- because I think that's what we're talking about. 
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MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Go ahead. I -- 

MEMBER CASSANO: Yeah, this is -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: -- Dave. Go ahead whoever else was on the 

phone. 

MEMBER CASSANO: Hi. Yeah, this is Torrie Cassano, also another 

new Board member. Do these invites come through on the CDC computer, 

or do they come through your regular -- you know, your regular email? I'm 

a little bit confused about when I need to actually get on to the CDC 

computer and look for stuff. I know one time Rose sent something out, and 

when I tried to access through the link, I could not get through. I don't 

know if that was an invite to a one on one or what, but maybe I'm just --

maybe I'm just computer dumb, but I -- I was having some difficulty 

understanding how these things get to us. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Dave. There's -- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Dave, this is -- this is -- this is Brad, Dave. One -

- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Okay. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: One of the things that I've done on that, a lot of 

these invites and stuff like that -- now, there's some things that they cannot 

send to your personal email, certain information -- but the invites and stuff, 

they should be able to, but you've also got to give them your personal email 

too so that you can get notifications on that. One of the things as a Board 

Member I've had to do is I set up -- I set up certain days through the week 

that I -- I access my computer to make sure that I have not missed 

anything. 
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MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Yeah. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: They try -- they try to be able to send it --

Zaida's very good about this -- of -- of certain -- certain things that Kathy 

sent out to us because -- like the one-on-one packet of information that 

cannot be outside of -- of our -- our system, kind of. But that's what I've 

done so that I'm able to track my information is I set up times -- three times 

a week is when I get on to make sure I haven't missed something. You just 

get on there -- and the other thing that it does is it keeps your computer 

updated on all of the security patches that you've got and everything else 

like that. There will be a little bit to it, but it sounds like, Dave, to me, that 

we need to set up just a -- a basic training with cases or whatever and go 

through it and maybe discuss it. And Rose could, kind of, pick one of those 

out that was kind of an interesting one, because I know that I had a couple 

that were quite interesting in what we had to get into -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Uh-huh. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: -- to be able to do it. So, do a few days, and it 

sounds like the best thing to be able to do is to send it out, give them plenty 

of advance notice when we're going to have the training and what Board M 

Members could participate in it and put their two cents worth in, which is 

usually $1.25 or more. But it's -- they -- it's -- I -- I think that sounds like 

the best thing to be able to do it is with an old case. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Okay. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah, I think the old cases, you could pick several 

and because there's different methods that have been used that -- that you 

have kind of a quick review, which is for those who have -- you get to an 
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award right away -- or they -- the 50 percent is met, and so they don't go 

through a full review of everything to just increase that number. So, I think 

-- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Well, I -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- something that -- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Henry, this is -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- that are a little different that represent some of 

these. I know this last group that I had, most of them were short ones, so 

it's really repetitive, and I -- I think showing some of those is good, but 

others -- so I'm going to have Rose maybe work with Dave to pick one or 

two or three that are kind of representative and cover the various OTIBs and 

whatever and guidance that has been used. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: All right. And Andy, I -- I -- I agree 100 percent 

with you, but I wanted you to think about part of the cases that we have 

there -- one of them, if you remember right, we went all the way through 

the -- we started into the process, and they automatically are -- are -- went 

over the 50 percent. So, it -- it -- it is important for them to understand of -

- why that dose reconstruction stops at that and so forth. So, I -- I'm -- and 

also, I had some other ones with Dave that we had some interesting quirks 

to them. But I -- I think if we put it into Rose's hands, she knows the ones 

that would kind of -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Exactly. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: -- best overall fit it and go from there. Especially 

one of them that I'm thinking about that we came up with a -- a causation of 

-- it was like 49, period. But what we went through to be able to make sure 
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that everything that was supposed to be covered, everything that was taken, 

was addressed and was put into it. But Rose has a far better overview of all 

of these cases than -- than what just some of us do. So, I think I'll put it 

into Rose's hands and go from there. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: And I, I -- Dave -- I would agree with Andy 

and you, Brad. Rose, if -- if Rose would take a few examples, and I'll be 

glad to speak with her and kind of go -- I'll review some of them that she 

suggests or help decide, make a final cut, and then I would suggest that we 

set up that special training program only on dates that all new members can 

attend. There's no point in having a special training program when only a 

few of the new members can come. So, I would say that the scheduling that 

we have to do is to contact all the new members, presumably through their 

personal -- personal emails -- excuse me, their personal computer. And 

then, once we find a date, then we -- we'll schedule the meeting. I don't 

know how long it'll take, but let's figure -- I'm not sure who should actually 

contact all of the folks. Is it you, Rose, or I'm not sure if you're -- who is 

the appropriate person to -- 

MS. GOGLIOTTI: (Indiscernible) everyone. I'll have to get everyone's 

personal email, but I'm happy to do that, maybe put together a very highlevel presentation but beforehand just reintroducing some of the concepts of 

dose reconstruction before we go through -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Yeah. 

MS. GOGLIOTTI: I think that might be useful. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: That would be great. That would be 

wonderful. And good. I'm so glad you will do that. And then I'll work with 
19

you on that, and then we'll have that special meeting. And as many 

members of our -- of our -- of our subcommittee who can attend that 

meeting would be great. And hopefully -- hopefully most of us, if not all -- it 

doesn't require that all of us be there, but at least several of us. But it 

should be available for all new Board members. And I don't -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Yeah. This is Ziemer again. And make -- make 

sure you coordinate all that through Rashaun as well. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Yes. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: I -- I -- I just -- I also wanted to make sure 

we're okay with that, Rashaun -- or -- or it could be classified as -- it could -

- the logistics of getting that whole work group together and everything else 

like that, I know that it's for training, but I just want to make sure all of our 

T's are crossed and our I's are dotted on that, that we don't any kind of 

problems like that. But I don't -- I don't think it would where this is for 

training meeting or subcommittee, but I just want to make sure that 

Rashaun -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Yeah, right. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: -- is in the loop with this. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Absolutely. And actually, what I think the --

sounds like -- reminds me the proper procedure is maybe Rose will contract 

the various people, the new Board members, and make sure that all can 

attend. At that point, we then go back Rashaun, give her those dates, and 

let her schedule the meeting with our consent, right, with -- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: And don't -- don't forget the sub- -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Is that proper, Rashaun? 
20

DR. ROBERTS: Sure. Either way -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- sorry to have -- 

DR. ROBERTS: -- I need -- I do need to be in the loop. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- (indiscernible) -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Absolutely. But I think we can do the 

preliminary work and find out when we can get all of our new members 

together, and -- and give it to you to -- because all the subcommittee 

members, current subcommittee members, don't necessarily have to attend 

that special training program. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: But the training -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: (Indiscernible) -- 

MR. CALHOUN: -- this is Grady. And -- and I just would like to offer 

up some of us or one of us to -- to be in that training as well in case there 

are some questions that are asked as to the process and why this was the 

decision over that decision was made. I think that'd be good for us to be 

available. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: I think you -- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: That's good. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: -- that's good. I think that's great. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: That's a very important part right there, you 

know. I'm gonna be honest, Dave, if we kind of sat down with Rose on this 

because she understands this whole thing, because I think it's very 

important to have SC&A there. I think it's important to have all the work 

groups members that can attend -- also to have NIOSH so -- or -- or ORAU, 

whichever one is into it, because that's where a lot of our information comes 
21

to us of why we came to this decision. This is why we did what we did. You 

know, there's a lot of discussion all the time on that, and that's very 

important. I'm glad that Grady brought that up, because we need to have -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Yes. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: -- all the players. And that's why I was a little 

bit nervous about just making sure that we're -- we're good with what we're 

doing, especially -- 

(Whereupon, there was electronic interference on a telephone caller's 

line.) 

MEMBER CLAWSON: -- process, it is -- this is -- we're training and for 

help for the new members to be able to go there. But Rashaun's got to stay 

in the loop on this, and she'll keep us out of trouble, I hope. 

MEMBER POMPA: This is Pompa. Just a couple -- number one, there 

is a radiation dose reconstruction program on the -- on the internet by 

NIOSH, and I used to go -- in the past, before 2019 or the -- the COVID, up 

to Grady's -- up to NIOSH, and we spent, I guess, like a week, three or four 

days, up there on radiation dose reconstruction. But it was -- I don't know if 

I've still got my notes -- so they're taking this very specific on dose 

reconstruction, how they did it, and if we had any questions, they were there 

to answer, but so if anyone wanted to look at the website, NIOSH radiation 

dose reconstruction program, kind of, get an idea. Thank you. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Yeah, and Dave, that's a good -- that's -- that's 

good that we went onto that. Now -- now, it kind goes a little bit past that, 

and it gets into the nuances of why certain methods were chosen over 

different methods that we know of. This is gonna kinda be the same kind of 
22

class, but a little bit higher level of it. But it is good if Information, and I'm 

glad you brought that up as to be able to go on there and get the basics of 

the dose reconstruction. Now that -- now that you're in the position that 

you are now, it's gonna get into the real fine details of this, because there's 

a lot of reasons why ORAU has chosen this over the other, the claims --

more claimant favorable because of certain things. And so, it -- it'll be 

interesting for you, I guarantee. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Right. Dave. Going back -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: I think we got way forward here. We're all in 

agreement, so -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: We have -- we have good agreement. And as 

I say, I think -- I got cut off at some point. But did -- I don't know if folks 

heard, but my feeling is probably we're talking about a September meeting 

rather than trying to squeeze it in -- in -- in August sometime. Yes. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Well, we'll -- we can -- we can see. Rose can put 

it together with Rashaun, and I think we're all in agreement that this is a 

good thing to do. The question would be will -- we're talking a little bit later. 

Our next -- when we finish up with committee reports with the August faceto-face meeting. I don't know how full that would be, so potentially that 

would be a place if there were some time there to get to do this training face 

to face. It's just a little bit challenging with everybody is -- if we have a big 

group on -- on the phone talking over or each other, that makes it a little 

more problematic. So -- 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Yeah. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: So, Dave, you want to give a -- finish an update 
23

on your committee's work? 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Well, -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Did you see my email? 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: I'd say I did not see your email this morning. 

I'm here up -- up in Vermont. I'm not -- I have access to my email, my 

personal email, only. But we'll -- we will try to schedule a meeting of the 

subcommittee soon. Now that -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: -- set 31 is finished. And if I may, also add 

for the methods -- dose reconstruction review methods work group, I 

promise to report. I've been busy be working on some other business for 

our advisory Board, and particularly our July 13th meeting for M&C, but I 

promise to get out that method report this summer and as soon as other 

things get finished and certainly before we have this special Board meeting 

that's coming up that we're -- we've just been talking about. So, I think 

that takes care of my report. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. I was just wanting to -- Paul had raised 

the issue of -- I mean, we talked about it a little bit here, but the case 

reviews, and we've tended not to have a formal way to get the report that 

they're completed and what was done in the record, so Rose and I put 

together a little -- because I was -- we thought the chair would be best, but 

since you haven't had it, let's just get it on the record before we forget. So, 

this is from May 23, 2023, through June 9, 2023, eight virtual meetings took 

place with pairs of Board members and SC&A review authors. During each 

call, three to four case reviews from the 31st set of dose reconstruction 
24

reviews were discussed. During these calls, Board Members were given the 

opportunity to ask questions and request changes to the DR reviews. The 

SCDRR recommends that the committee -- SC&A issue the 30 case reviews 

discussed in these calls, and that the issues resolution process on these 

cases should commence, that even though we've been through this, these 

are still drafts. And that will be the next step is to finalize response to the 

various questions that we have raised, or SC&A raised. And then they will 

become final later on. So, this is just an update that one of our big activities 

for the Board is to do these reviews and an audit, as Paul had said, is a 

critical factor. So, on this 31st set, we've now completed most of that, and 

we're in the finalization process. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Very good. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Questions? Dave, any other comments? Just --

we just need to get a report out there, what was done and how we did it 

formally for the record. Paul, is that what you're -- what your intent was? 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Yeah, this is Ziemer. Thank you very much for --

for doing that. I -- I felt that it was important for us to have in the record, 

that these -- that this activity was done since it is really an important 

underlying thing to what we do. And I had realized that in the past, that 

doesn't show up anywhere that we've done these one on -- well, they're not 

one on ones, but they're small groups of reviews, and I just wanted it to be 

in the formal record. And I -- I suppose at the time that the final report 

comes to us from SC&A, we approve that, but the fact that we've actually 

reviewed all these in advance doesn't formally show up. So, I appreciate 

your putting that into the formal record here. And I think just the -- having 
25

it in the transcript becomes important. We don't -- I don't think we take any 

formal action at this point. We just have it in the record. But I think that --

to me, that's sufficient. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Well, thank you. Thank you, Paul. And Andy. 

That's well thought out and well done.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Any other questions or committee reports? 

MEMBER BEACH: Andy, this is Josie. I did want to mention that I'm 

going to be joining NIOSH the end of the month to go to Idaho to look at 

documents for, I believe, the Burial Grounds, so I'm going to -- and then a 

possible site visit. I don't know if any other work group members are going; 

haven't heard any. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Well, I think you're the -- 

MR. NELSON: Josie, our understanding is that -- sorry about that. 

This is Chuck. Our understanding is Joe Fitzgerald is going to attend as well. 

MEMBER BEACH: Oh, okay. I just didn't know if any other -- I know 

we used to have a couple of us that went out, so. That's it. That's all I 

have, Andy. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. Any other reports? If not, I turn it back 

over to Rashaun to talk about plans for the August Board meeting. 

PLANS FOR AUGUST BOARD MEETING

DR. ROBERTS: Hi, thanks, Andy. So, because some of the Board 

Members will be unable to travel in August, this will be a hybrid meeting 

scheduled for August 16th. So, the Virtual component will be conducted on 

Zoom, and the in-person component will be conducted at the DoubleTree by 
26

Hilton in Augusta. Zaida will be getting in touch soon about travel 

arrangements and getting travel authorization for those who will be able to 

attend the meeting in person in Augusta. So, please direct questions about 

travel to her. And as a gentle reminder, no travel related to this Board 

should be arranged or conducted without Zaida's assistance. 

So, in terms of the agenda, I just wanted to make sure, you know, 

that -- that everything -- all of the items that people have in mind are 

represented on the agenda. So, as per usual, we're going to have the 

normal update. I assume from -- well, actually from the SRS meeting, I 

know, Brad, that you were planning to do a work group update, correct? Is 

that still the case? And I just want to confirm how -- how big a block of time 

you need. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Well, Rasaun, I was -- I'm kind of looking at 

that. I -- I think we can kind of give an update of that in, I'd say, half hour 

to 45 minutes. It depends on if NIOSH wants to give an update on their 

part, but I give for the work group in that. But it depends on if NIOSH 

wants to -- because we're in Augusta, to give an update too. That would 

just be my question. I'm thinking of our side, we could do it in about a half 

hour.

DR. ROBERTS: Okay. And NIOSH, would -- would you want some 

time on that agenda item as well? 

MR. RUTHERFORD: You know, I said -- this is LaVon. That's a good 

question. I would think we would. Let me verify with John Cardarelli, and 

make sure that -- but I -- I would think we would want a little bit of time as 

well. 
27

DR. ROBERTS: Okay. I will take that -- 

MEMBER CLAWSON: And -- and LaVon, I was just figuring that if we 

set aside about an hour, that'd give both sides, kind of, about a half hour to 

give an update of where we're at, what -- and what we're working towards. 

MR. RUTHERFORD: That's seems fine to me, too, Brad. 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Okay, sounds good. Thanks. 

DR. ROBERTS: Okay, great. I also assume that there'll be an update 

-- the document and approval from SPR. I know, we don't have that 

meeting until June 21st, but the pattern has been that there's a document 

approval process agenda item. So, Josie, do you anticipate that being the 

case? And again, confirming the amount of time? 

MEMBER BEACH: Yes, I do. And I believe we'll know more next week. 

But I would say probably about the same amount of time we've been taking. 

I think we've been scheduling an hour and a half; is that correct? 

DR. ROBERTS: Yes, that is correct. I do have a question. If need be, 

would an hour -- if we had to, sort of, modify the agenda a little bit, would 

an hour be acceptable? 

MEMBER BEACH: We can pare down what we present. I -- I was 

going to talk to -- well, I talked to Kathy a little bit, but we were going to 

talk during our meeting of doing our backlog, but also giving an update of 

what we've been working on the last year. So, I hate to limit us to an hour, 

but if we have to, we'll just pare down what we present. 

DR. ROBERTS: Okay. All right. Well, we'll see what happens in the 

June 21st meeting. Okay, thanks. Also, since you're -- you're still on, Josie, 

M&C, did you want an agenda -- agenda item for that? 
28

MEMBER BEACH: I think we probably should put an agenda item for 

that based on our July meeting. We may have some information to present, 

so. 

DR. ROBERTS: Okay. 

MEMBER BEACH: And I -- 

DR. ROBERTS: And about -- 

MEMBER BEACH: At least an hour to start with. 

DR. ROBERTS: Okay. 

MEMBER BEACH: But that, again, will determine what happens in July. 

Sure. 

DR. ROBERTS: Okay. So, tentative -- we'll just say tentatively. 

MEMBER BEACH: Yeah, have a placeholder for sure. 

DR. ROBERTS: Okay, great. So, I think those are all the items that I 

had. Is anything missing? Is there an agenda item that that anyone on the 

Board would want on? 

MEMBER ZIEMER: This is Ziemer. Let me ask you a question, 

Rashaun, is -- are we down to a one-day meeting, did you say? 

DR. ROBERTS: Right now, because doesn't appear that there's really 

enough to spill into another day. You know, again, unless there's something 

on here that -- that's not accounted for yet. 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Well, the other half of my question or -- it's a 

second question then, what -- sort of what fraction of the Board is able to 

actually physically be there? Because it -- it's already a hybrid meeting and 

that -- for many people -- not for me so much, but some of our West Coast 

people -- that's a lot of travel for a one-day meeting. 
29

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah, I've just heard -- I don't have a sense of, you 

know, necessarily everyone who may not be able to attend in person, but I 

was contacted by, you know, a few people who said that they weren't able to 

make it. 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Okay. Well, I was just wondering, I become 

concerned about travelling long distances for one-day meetings. 

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah, I -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: (Indiscernible) -- 

DR. ROBERTS: -- agree. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- we could have raised the same issue of our --

are we going to have a public comment period -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Well, we'll have to have that? 

DR. ROBERTS: Yes, yeah. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: I mean, then the question is could we -- could we 

start with that? Again, it's a -- if we meet together for one day, it's really 

from a travel standpoint, a three-day thing. You've got to fly in the night 

before, and you can't do -- with the public comment period, late in the day, 

after the meeting, it's too late to travel home -- at the end of the meeting, 

so you travel home the next day. So, it's a three-day thing for a -- I don't 

know how else we do it once we started -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Well, this is Ziemer again. Yeah. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah. 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Andy, Ziemer again here. I -- I think we have to 

be cognizant of the fact that there are some members of the public that still

work and do not make it during the day. So, we almost have to have the 
30

public comment period toward the end of the day, five o'clock typically 

works well, particularly for people who can't get there otherwise. And I 

know it's not good to have people -- having the Board all bailing out at that 

point. It looks bad to the public, if we're bailing out and don't stay to hear 

them. So, that's the other side of it. If we have a public comment period, I 

think we have to have people commit to staying through the end of the 

Board meeting. So, that's all. That's just my comment on that. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: It's a -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: It's almost better to do it remotely if that's what's 

gonna happen. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: The other would be could we do it at the start, 

you know, the night before? You have to fly in the night before anyway, so 

we could potentially do -- see if everybody could get in in time to do a five 

o'clock at the start. The only problem is it isn't after the whole Board 

meeting, it's at the start of the Board meeting -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Right. People haven't had a -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- (indiscernible) -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: -- chance to hear our -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- comment. 

DR. ROBERTS: Right. 

MEMBER ZIEMER: They haven't had a chance to hear where we are on 

things either. 

DR. ROBERTS: Right. Exactly. So, and -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Well, I just -- 

DR. ROBERTS: -- too, you know, just for your information, Brad was 
31

putting the Savannah River site update closer to the end of the day just so 

that people there, you know, might be able to attend that in person. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay, good enough. Well, we just have to remind 

people not to -- not to get 5:00 p.m. flights. 

DR. ROBERTS: Right. 

MEMBER BEACH: Definitely. Rashaun, do you want us to let you 

know if we intend to make that meeting? I mean, I can say I -- it's all my 

calendar. I intend to make the meeting in person. 

DR. ROBERTS: Uh-huh. Sure, people, you know, if they want to send 

me an email saying whether they're or not they can make it, that's fine. 

MEMBER KOTELCHUCK: Sure. Dave. I personally cannot make it in 

person. I will certainly be there for the Zoom. Unfortunately, we quickly 

have a family vacation in August planned a year in advance and the whole 

family is there, and so I there's no way I can -- can face to face. I'll 

certainly be there on -- on the Zoom. 

MEMBER BEACH: Is it too late to -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Well, this is Ziemer. 

MEMBER BEACH: Is that too late to -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: This is -- 

MEMBER BEACH: -- move that meeting to a week earlier? 

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah, part of the issue is that these -- the hotel has to 

be booked in time, you know, you have to put the space for, you know, the 

time that you need it. And that has to be done in advance. I think, you 

know, the reason we had to do the April meeting online was that we weren't 

able to find the conference space. You know, but -- but when we do, you 
32

know, enter into a contract with the hotel site, all of those things have to 

sort of be nailed down. 

MEMBER BEACH: Sure. 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Well, I'm going to -- 

MEMBER VALERIO: Rashaun, this is Loretta. Oh, I'm sorry, Paul. 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Well, I was just going to suggest -- 

MEMBER VALERIO: Go ahead. 

MEMBER ZIEMER: -- I don't think we have to go through -- this 

Ziemer. I don't know that we have to go through everybody today. I was 

just -- I -- I was concerned if most people weren't going to end up coming, 

that also impacts on the decision, I think. I assume maybe the contract's 

already been led; is that right, in the hotel? 

DR. ROBERTS: I believe the -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: We already have that -- 

DR. ROBERTS: -- Zaida. That's more Zaida's thing -- 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Yeah. Well, -- 

DR. ROBERTS: -- off line. 

MEMBER ZIEMER: Well, you said where it's gonna be. 

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Well, let's try to have people finalize to Rashaun 

whether they're coming or not, and hopefully every will be able -- or more 

everybody will be there in person. So, again, the public attending, if it's only 

a few people there, then that looks bad as well, so. 

MEMBER BEACH: Sure. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Just keep in mind that it won't -- unless there's a 
33

late flight, you'll have to stay till at least probably six o'clock. 

DR. ROBERTS: Right, and it may -- may be later. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah. 

DR. ROBERTS: As we've mentioned before, it may not, you know, 

make sense to book a flight out -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah. 

DR. ROBERTS: -- that particular evening, so all of that needs to be 

taken into account. 

MEMBER ZIEMER: I think our -- this is Ziemer again. Our past 

experience at -- at Augusta is that we usually have quite a few participants 

in from the public at that site. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah. So, that would be the fly home the next 

day. 17th is your -- 15th and the 17th travel days. 

DR. ROBERTS: Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah, so if folks just want to let me 

know via email what the circumstance are, whether you are able to travel or 

not, that would be -- that would be good. 

Okay. Just getting back -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: And we all -- 

DR. ROBERTS: Just one more check again, are there any other 

agenda items that may have been missed? Okay. Well, hearing none, 

thanks. That's really all I had. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Board Members have any comments or questions 

you have? 

MEMBER CLAWSON: Brad. No, I... 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. Seeing no hands raised, I -- I'll accept a 
34

motion to adjourn. 

MEMBER BEACH: I'll second that, Andy. This is Josie. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. Hearing no objections, we stand adjourned 

then. 

(Whereupon, the meeting was adjourned at11:59 a.m. EST.).