1

NEAL R. GROSS

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1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL

+ + + + +

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR OCCUPATIONAL

SAFETY AND HEALTH

+ + + + +

ADVISORY BOARD ON RADIATION AND

WORKER HEALTH

+ + + + +

111TH MEETING

+ + + + +

WEDNESDAY,

MAY 25, 2016

+ + + + +

The meeting convened via 

teleconference at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, James 

M. Melius, Chairman, presiding.

PRESENT:

JAMES M. MELIUS, Chairman

HENRY MEMBER CLAWSON, Member

JOSIE BEACH, Member

BRADLEY P. CLAWSON, Member

R. WILLIAM FIELD, Member

RICHARD LEMEN, Member

JAMES E. LOCKEY, Member

WANDA I. MUNN, Member

GENEVIEVE S. ROESSLER, Member

LORETTA R. VALERIO, Member

PAUL L. ZIEMER, Member

TED KATZ, Designated Federal Official
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REGISTERED AND/OR PUBLIC COMMENT PARTICIPANTS:

ADAMS, NANCY, NIOSH Contractor

BARRIE, TERRIE

FROWISS, AL 

GARDNER, DEE

KOTSCH, JEFFREY, DOL

MAURO, JOHN, SC&A

MCKEEL, DAN

RUTHERFORD, LAVON, DCAS

STIVER, JOHN, SC&A

SUNDIN, DAVE, DCAS

WARREN, BOB
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Contents 

ROLL CALL .................................................................................................... 4

MARCH BOARD MEETING FINAL VOTE TALLIES ................................ 5

SEC PETITION UPDATE ............................................................................... 6

UPDATES FROM WORK GROUPS AND SUBCOMMITTEES ................. 8

PLANS FOR AUGUST BOARD MEETING ............................................... 16
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1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 

2 11:02 a.m.

3 MR. KATZ: Let's get started. This is 

4 the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health. 

5 And the meeting today is basically just a planning 

6 meeting for -- mostly a catch-up meeting for a Board 

7 meeting we're going to be having in August in Idaho 

8 Falls. The agenda is on the NIOSH website, under 

9 the Board section, under scheduled meetings, 

10 today's date. But it's very simple; I don't think 

11 anyone really needs the agenda to follow along. 

12 ROLL CALL 

13 As for roll call for the Board members, 

14 I'll just run down the list alphabetically and let 

15 me just -- with respect to conflict of interests, 

16 we're not, in this meeting, dealing substantively 

17 with any site matters. Just, this is a planning 

18 meeting so there are no -- will be no issues with 

19 conflict of interests. I'm not going to address 

20 whether there are conflicts with Board members. But 

21 let's just do roll call alphabetically. 

22 (Roll call)
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1 MR. KATZ: Okay, then. Well, we have 

2 ten, Jim, and it's your meeting.

3 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. Thanks --

4 thanks Ted. I'll turn it right back over to you 

5 for the – 

6 MARCH BOARD MEETING FINAL VOTE TALLIES 

7 MR. KATZ: Yes, of course. Yeah, the 

8 next item is just to register the final vote tally 

9 for the March Board meeting. In the March Board 

10 meeting we had three SEC actions, and I'll just run 

11 through them one by one. 

12 The first was Argonne National 

13 Laboratory-West. And that ended up being a 

14 unanimous vote, with Dr. Poston recused. We also 

15 had Idaho National Laboratory so that was --

16 Argonne was an addition to the SEC Class. Also 

17 Idaho. And that was also unanimous with Mr. 

18 Clawson recused. 

19 And finally, we have Lawrence Livermore 

20 National Laboratory. And that was also unanimous, 

21 with Dr. Poston recused. 

22 And all those actions have gone 

23 forward; the letters from the Board have gone 
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1 forward. And the packages have gone forward, I 

2 think, from the Secretary of HHS, isn't that 

3 correct? Nancy? Or are they with the Secretary? 

4 MS. ADAMS: They've gone forward. 

5 Whether or not they -- they're with the Secretary 

6 just now, I don't know.

7 MR. KATZ: Okay. 

8 MS. ADAMS: But her due date -- her due 

9 date is June 3rd. 

10 MR. KATZ: Is when? Sorry.

11 MS. ADAMS: June 3rd.

12 MR. KATZ: Okay. Great. Alright. 

13 That takes care of the last Board meeting's votes.

14 SEC PETITION UPDATE 

15 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. The next item 

16 is LaVon Rutherford with an SEC petition status 

17 update. LaVon, we may have to come up with a little 

18 catchier title. We seem to have trouble, you know, 

19 getting people interested to sign up for the call, 

20 especially the Board members.

21 MR. RUTHERFORD: This time it wasn't 

22 only the Board members. It was a few of our members 

23 as well.
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1 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: That's true. Yeah. 

2 Stu and Jim disappear, I don't know. 

3 MR. RUTHERFORD: Well, it's going to be 

4 pretty short. We don't have a lot. It's not clear 

5 that we'll have any new SEC Petition Evaluation 

6 Reports to present at the August meetings. 

7 We were trying to expedite the schedule 

8 on Bliss & Laughlin since so much of the work was 

9 already done on the previous evaluation. 

10 We are also looking at expediting a 

11 schedule of an 83.14 that's in progress. I should 

12 have a better feel for those -- both of those 

13 evaluations by mid or late June. 

14 And those are the only two new petition 

15 evaluations, potentially, for the August meeting. 

16 And that's it, so --

17 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. Any -- you're 

18 not going to give us a hint on the 83.14?

19 MR. RUTHERFORD: Well, I would, but we 

20 just haven't put boundaries on it and we haven't 

21 really finalized things, and I hate to do that with 

22 -- I will give you a hint, in that -- one fact I 

23 can tell you later on what it is. There are 
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1 actually two that are in progress, but one that we 

2 could potentially have ready by the August meeting. 

3 And it's for a site that we have been working on 

4 for some time.

5 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Oh, okay. That 

6 narrows it down.

7 MR. KATZ: It's good you've added an 

8 element of mystery to these meetings. Maybe that 

9 will bring in someone.

10 MR. RUTHERFORD: Yeah. Yeah. 

11 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: That's right. 

12 Yeah, yeah. 

13 (Simultaneous speaking)

14 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: We could add the 

15 lottery here. 

16 MR. RUTHERFORD: That's right. 

17 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. No 

18 questions. Okay. Any Work Group or Subcommittee 

19 Chairs that would like to provide updates on their 

20 activities or planned activities?

21 UPDATES FROM WORK GROUPS AND SUBCOMMITTEES 

22 MEMBER MUNN: Oh, sure. This is 

23 Wanda. I can report on our Subcommittee for 
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1 Procedures. 

2 We met on May the 16th by 

3 teleconference. After a six month hiatus, I do 

4 believe that that's the longest period of time 

5 since the initiation of our Board that this 

6 particular subcommittee has had such a long hiatus. 

7 But we had a number of issues that were almost 

8 complete, but not quite. And we had some issues 

9 with availability of staff and Board members during 

10 that period of time. So we're very pleased that 

11 we have that under our belt. 

12 We had a full day of activity and were 

13 I think fairly successful in closing out a large 

14 number of items that we had before us. Among the 

15 things we closed out were OTIB-44, that's 

16 individual dose adjustment for Y-12, a dose 

17 reconstruction. And we closed out OTIB-50 a Rocky 

18 Flats neutron dose reconstruction data. And half 

19 a dozen PERs, including Savannah River's TBD and 

20 Hanford's application of external dose factors, 

21 NIOSH's IREP lung cancer model, and Linde Ceramics 

22 TBD revision, Aliquippa Forge. 

23 We took time to look at some material 
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1 that SC&A had provided us with respect to their 

2 recommendations for upcoming assignments for PERs. 

3 And they had nine total recommended and three of 

4 them were Sub-task 4. The committee took a look 

5 at those and will have some recommendations for the 

6 full Board at the August meeting. We will probably 

7 recommend five or six of those. SC&A will probably 

8 will also have some technical guidance documents 

9 that they are questioning the review of; we'll have 

10 that for you in the August meeting also. 

11 So, we consider it a very successful 

12 meeting and are pleased that we are getting so many 

13 of these things accomplished. 

14 We are also very pleased to have the 

15 report that the Board Review System which this 

16 Subcommittee had initiated and had worked so 

17 assiduously on over a period of four or five years 

18 to bring it up to speed so it is still usable, is 

19 now being utilized by more and more of the Work 

20 Groups. So we were very pleased with that 

21 information. 

22 And I believe that's all I have.

23 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. Thank you, 
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1 Wanda. Any questions for Wanda? 

2 (No audible response.)

3 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: If not, another 

4 volunteer?

5 MEMBER CLAWSON: Jim, this is Brad. I 

6 guess, mine's more of a question on the Savannah 

7 River. We had an action item at the last meeting 

8 that we were going to have some paperwork, but I 

9 guess everybody's been, kind of, out of country for 

10 a while. I just wondered if we have -- if LaVon 

11 had any update on anything or -- 

12 MR. RUTHERFORD: Brad, I really 

13 don't--the last information I gave you was the 

14 latest I have. And Tim is -- or Dr. Taulbee will 

15 be back in the office again tomorrow and I pinged 

16 him when he left last Thursday to get you an update 

17 as soon as possible. So, you should have something 

18 -- you will have something tomorrow.

19 MEMBER CLAWSON: Okay. I appreciate 

20 that. I'm just trying to stay on top of that. I 

21 also got from Mr. Rolfes a response on the Pantex 

22 on the -- of the Site Profile issues that I'm 

23 reviewing at this time. But other than that, 
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1 there's not too much more to report.

2 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. Thank you, 

3 Brad. Any other Work Groups wish to report?

4 MEMBER ANDERSON: Jim, this is Andy. 

5 We just -- I just have a very quick update. We have 

6 a couple of sites ready to be finalized. And we're 

7 planning to meet probably it's going to be now July. 

8 Just alert those on the phone and you'll hopefully 

9 be getting -- on notice or a request for available 

10 dates shortly.

11 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. Thank you. 

12 A's come before B's so Beach, Josie?

13 MEMBER BEACH: No problem. No 

14 problem.

15 So, I was going to report out for Idaho 

16 with a little help from John and Ted. I've been 

17 out of the loop for a week. 

18 But we have some work products that are 

19 due and I know Ted sent out some dates for a meeting 

20 at the end of July, first of August. Haven't heard 

21 anything on how that's shaping up. But we're 

22 looking to meet before the August meeting.

23 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: And I think that Ted 
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1 has sent out a date.

2 MEMBER BEACH: Did he? Okay. Like I 

3 said, I'm out of the loop. So --

4 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: I don't recall --

5 MR. KATZ: It's August 2nd.

6 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: August 2nd. Okay.

7 MEMBER BEACH: Okay. Thank you. So 

8 we do have a meeting date, and place then?

9 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Yeah.

10 MEMBER BEACH: Thank you.

11 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: And that will be an 

12 in-person meeting in Cincinnati.

13 MR. KATZ: Right.

14 MEMBER BEACH: Okay. Great.

15 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Other Work Group 

16 updates? 

17 (No audible response.) 

18 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. 

19 MEMBER VALERIO: Jim, this is Loretta.

20 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Oh, hi. Welcome.

21 MEMBER VALERIO: Hi. Will we be 

22 meeting or having a teleconference or anything on 

23 Ames in the near future?
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1 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: I don't know. You 

2 got to remind me what the Work Group is?

3 MEMBER VALERIO: Dave Kotelchuck is 

4 the chair.

5 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. Dave's not on 

6 a call, so I can't tell you what's the plan. 

7 Ted, do you have --

8 MR. KATZ: Loretta, this is Ted. 

9 Yeah, Dave is -- Dave's been in contact with folks 

10 at NIOSH back and forth because they're -- they've 

11 been preparing some material. I can't remember 

12 exactly with Ames, I think they're getting pretty 

13 close to a Work Group meeting.

14 MEMBER VALERIO: Okay.

15 MR. KATZ: But I can -- there are quite 

16 a lot of sites, actually, that are right on the 

17 edge, so, I'm not a hundred percent certain about 

18 that, but I'll get back to you on it.

19 MEMBER VALERIO: Okay. 

20 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. LaVon?

21 MR. RUTHERFORD: Yes?

22 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Since you're the 

23 senior NIOSH person on the phone --
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1 MR. RUTHERFORD: Actually, the Deputy 

2 Director is, but I will answer --

3 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Oh, sorry. I 

4 apologize.

5 MR. RUTHERFORD: The --

6 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: I thought --

7 MR. RUTHERFORD: Yeah, for Ames, we had 

8 been finalizing a few issues. And I know that --

9 or a number of issues. I know that there is one, 

10 I believe, one issue that we're still working on 

11 that we haven't completed yet. But I can also send 

12 out an update as soon as I talk to Tom Tomes.

13 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. 

14 MEMBER VALERIO: Okay. Thank you.

15 MR. RUTHERFORD: Yeah.

16 MR. KATZ: I'll take care of that, 

17 Robert, because I have an update from Tom. I'm 

18 just not online, so -- but he updated Dr. Kotelchuck 

19 in the last, within the last couple weeks.

20 MR. RUTHERFORD: That's correct.

21 MR. KATZ: I'll send this out. I'll 

22 send them out.

23 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. Any other 
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1 Work Group updates or questions? 

2 (No audible response.)

3 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. Ted, you want 

4 to talk about the next Board meeting?

5 MR. KATZ: Yes. Yes, thank you. 

6 Thank you, Jim. Alright. 

7 PLANS FOR AUGUST BOARD MEETING 

8 So, I mentioned at the outset, the next 

9 Board meeting is in Idaho Falls. It's August 9th 

10 and August 10th. And we have -- it's -- I mean, 

11 the agenda, as it looks right now, there are a 

12 number of items that are tentative. So it's hard 

13 exactly to get a handle on exactly how long it will 

14 be, but it looks like it should be a day and a half. 

15 So, beyond the usual items, we have --

16 we'll have another Dose Reconstruction report 

17 related to methods and the Secretary's report. 

18 We will, I believe, we should -- yeah, 

19 we should be fine to -- as you may recall at the 

20 March meeting, we ran out of time on Pinellas Site 

21 Profile review but we have a little time to finish 

22 that up. And I think, I believe one of the 

23 significant questions that was raised by Dr. 
17

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1 Richardson, you know, has been addressed to Dr. 

2 Richardson, and I queried Dr. Richardson as to 

3 whether that satisfies his concerns related to 

4 sampling frequency and so on for tritium. 

5 There is -- and this is one of the 

6 tentative items would be Area 4 and Santa Susana 

7 Field Laboratory's SEC petition. So, I think 

8 NIOSH ORAU is pushing to get that done in time to 

9 make a presentation at the Board meeting. So, 

10 we'll keep our fingers crossed on that. 

11 And I think also, Bliss & Laughlin 

12 Steel, I think -- I believe NIOSH just recently sent 

13 out the report on that.

14 MR. RUTHERFORD: Actually, no. No.

15 MR. KATZ: No?

16 MR. RUTHERFORD: No. Right now, Ted, 

17 we're scheduled to have or we're trying to get that 

18 report out by --

19 MR. KATZ: Oh, okay. 

20 MR. RUTHERFORD: Yeah.

21 MR. KATZ: I'm thinking -- I'm thinking 

22 of another one, I guess. 

23 MR. RUTHERFORD: Alright.
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1 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Actually, according 

2 to LaVon, they're not sending anything out.

3 MR. RUTHERFORD: Yes. We are working 

4 -- I don't want to guarantee that we are going to 

5 have any done. So we're trying to get two of them 

6 done: the Bliss & Laughlin one and, since you 

7 already spoke, the Santa Susana Field Laboratory 

8 out in time for the August meeting.

9 MR. KATZ: I see. Okay. I really 

10 messed things up for you.

11 MR. RUTHERFORD: I guess you won the 

12 lottery.

13 MR. KATZ: I didn't realize but --

14 alright.

15 Then we have, possibly, we're going to 

16 have -- we have a lot of items for Andy's Work Group, 

17 which you mentioned, the Uranium Refining AWE Work 

18 Group for a number of different sites, including 

19 a report that just went out on Westinghouse, from 

20 NIOSH. So, you may have had an opportunity to 

21 close out, or at least, present on one or two --

22 of both sites for Uranium Refining, maybe more 

23 even. 
19

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1 And then we have, also, Idaho National 

2 Labs and we'll have a presentation no matter -- on 

3 that on INL West. But we may have actionable items 

4 on INL; it depends on the Work Group meeting. 

5 That's all day one possibilities. 

6 And then, the second day, basically 

7 what I'm thinking of, we have the Blockson, we 

8 should have a section on that. That's the residual 

9 period. And we have, depending on how much time, 

10 what falls or stays in the agenda with these other 

11 items I've mentioned, we have the possibility of 

12 having a couple presentations on the close-outs, 

13 as Wanda mentioned, the procedure reviews for the 

14 TBD close-outs or PIB.

15 Yeah. And that's it for all the --

16 that's it for all the particular site-specific or 

17 procedure-specific presentations we might have. 

18 So as I have it right now, we have a 

19 fairly full day and a half. But again, there's a 

20 bit of uncertainty in some of these items.

21 MEMBER LEMEN: Do we -- do we know which 

22 -- which day and a half it's going to be?

23 MR. KATZ: Yeah. 
20

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1 MEMBER LEMEN: I think I bulleted most 

2 of the week.

3 MR. KATZ: It will be a full day on 

4 August 9th, and then it will be a half day on the 

5 10th.

6 MEMBER LEMEN: Okay. 

7 MR. KATZ: Any other questions?

8 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: And you don't have a 

9 hotel yet?

10 MR. KATZ: And I -- well, I don't have 

11 a hotel yet secured, but it's looking like it'll 

12 be -- and so please don't call and make reservations 

13 -- but it's looking like it's likely to be the 

14 Hilton Garden Inn.

15 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Which is in the same 

16 general location as the other --

17 MR. KATZ: Yeah, it's right in the 

18 middle with the others, and I'm told that's a --

19 that's a fairly well-run place.

20 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: Okay. Any other 

21 updates? Questions? 

22 (No audible response.)

23 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: If not, do I get a 
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1 motion to adjourn?

2 MEMBER VALERIO: So moved.

3 MEMBER CLAWSON: Yeah, this is Brad. 

4 The motion -- 

5 MEMBER VALERIO: Second.

6 CHAIRMAN MELIUS: So Brad and Loretta, 

7 since they were the last on, they get to be the first 

8 off. 

9 Thank you, everybody. We'll see you in 

10 Idaho if not before. Thank you.

11 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter 

12 went off the record at 11:31 a.m.)

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