Sandia National LaboratoriesAlbuquerque

Special Exposure Cohort 

Petition Evaluation Report

Samuel Glover, PhD

Research Health Scientist

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Division of Compensation Analysis and Support

May 2011

St. Louis, MO
Petition Overview

 Petition received on January 19, 2010

 Petitioner proposed class definition:

• All employees who worked within the Sandia 

National Laboratory Reactor Division from 

January 1, 1957 through December 31, 1962
Petition Overview—cont. 

 Petition qualified for evaluation on 

April 13, 2010

 Petition basis: Radiation monitoring 

records for members of the proposed class 

have been lost, falsified, or destroyed

• Monitoring data retrieval problems incurred by 

NIOSH while processing individual claims and 

performing site data capture work supported the 

petition basis
Petition Overview—cont. 

 NIOSH evaluated class:

• All employees who worked at Sandia National 

Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, from 

January 1, 1949 through December 31, 1962

 NIOSH will address the period covering 

1963 through the early 1990s in a separate 

report
Sources of Available Information

 ORAU Team Technical Basis Documents 

(TBDs)

 ORAU Team Technical Information 

Bulletins (TIBs) and Procedures

 Interviews with former employees

 Existing claimant files

 Documentation provided by petitioner
Data Capture Efforts

 NIOSH Site Research Database (over 2400 

documents)

 Twelve data capture visits at Sandia

 Data capture of Sandia related records at 

facilities across the DOE complex

 DOE Opennet (OSTI database)

 Internet search
Previous Dose Reconstructions

NIOSH OCAS Claims Tracking System 

Information available as of March 22, 2011

 Sandia National Laboratory 

claims submitted to NIOSH 346

 Claims with employment during the period 

evaluated (1949-1962) 193

 Dose reconstructions completed for claims 

with employment during the period 154

 Claims containing internal dosimetry 11

 Claims containing external dosimetry 88
Background

 In 1945, Z-Division of Los Alamos moved to 

what was to become the Sandia National 

Laboratory

 Covered period for Sandia National 

Laboratory, Albuquerque as established by 

the Department of Labor began in 1949

 Weapons assembly, weapon ordnance 

engineering, and production coordination 

amongst various Atomic Energy Commission 

facilities (such as Clarksville, Medina, Pantex)
Background—cont. 

 In the early 1950s, Sandia National Laboratory 

expanded activities to support field testing and 

atmospheric tests

 Sandia National Laboratory further expanded its 

capabilities in the late 1950s when testing 

moratoriums were set in place by adding 

accelerators and reactors to test weapons 

components
Background—cont. 

 Sandia National Laboratory is divided into 5 

technical areas

• TA-I: Electron and ion beam accelerators/Toxic 

metals machine shop

• TA-II: Weapon component assembly and waste 

handling/burial

• TA-III: Radioactive and mixed waste landfills

• TA-IV: Neutron generator test equipment

• TA-V: Reactors and hot cell facility 
Background—cont.
Potential External Radiological 

Exposures During the Class Period

 Full spectrum of external hazards

• Photon exposures related to weapons assembly 

(1949-1958), generators, accelerators, materials 

returned from weapons testing

• Beta exposures from activated components, 

materials returned from weapons testing and air 

filters from cloud sampling

• Neutron: Weapons assembly, accelerators, 

reactors, neutron sources

—Sandia National Laboratory dosimeters did not 

measure neutrons until 1958
Potential Internal Radiological 

Exposures During the Class Period

 Broad spectrum of activities resulted in 

numerous radionuclides of concern

• Plutonium

• Tritium

• Uranium

• Americium

• Fission and activation products

• Other radionuclides including 54Mn, 65Zn, 22Na, 

57Co, thorium, 210Po, 226Ra, and 14C were identified 

in various documents and analyses at the site
Health Physics at SNL

 Health physics was the responsibility of industrial 

hygiene division prior to 1957 at which point a 

health physics section was formed

 NIOSH located minimal documentation of the 

practices and requirements during the evaluation 

period

 Monitoring requirements were developed based 

on the judgment of departments, divisions, and 

supervisors

 Interviews indicate that coverage was temporal 

and ad hoc in nature
Personal Monitoring Data

 Availability of monitoring data a significant 

concern

 November 2009: NIOSH notified DOE that 

case responses were incomplete, 

particularly as related to internal 

dosimetry data

• NIOSH acquired some individual data during 

data captures which were not provided in the 

responses
Personal Monitoring Data—cont.

 DOE and Sandia National Laboratory have 

implemented a massive records indexing effort 

which they feel will fix the issue

• ~1.1 million records

• Scanning completed (but not verified)

• Indexing approximately 40% complete at this time

• Expected completion 6-9 months

 January 2010: NIOSH re-requested the records 

for open Sandia National Laboratory cases
Internal Dosimetry Data Availability

 Unlike many DOE facilities, Sandia National 

Laboratory did not report the number of 

bioassay samples analyzed

 Based on interviews, it is thought to be a small 

number per year

 NIOSH has obtained copies of some bioassay 

records as part of its site data captures and claim 

data requests

 Number of samples, by year, from NIOSH records 

are provided in the following table
Summary of In Vitro Bioassay 

Samples Obtained by NIOSH
External Monitoring Data

 External dosimetry results were centralized from 

the beginning at Sandia National Laboratory 

• Personal data requests seem fairly complete for 

external dosimetry data based on NIOSH records

• Atomic Energy Commission monitoring reports 

available during this early time period

 Documentation of the pre-1957 external 

dosimetry program was not obtained by NIOSH

 Post-1957 documentation indicates all workers in 

radiation areas were to be badged
External Dosimetry Monitoring at SNL
Feasibility of Dose Reconstructions

 NIOSH has determined that monitoring data, process 

information, and monitoring program information are 

insufficient to support bounding internal doses for the 

evaluated class. 

• There are indications that additional data exist 

(microfilm/microfiche record set), but these data are not readily 

accessible. 

• Based on a lack of internal monitoring program documentation and 

source term information data for the evaluated period, NIOSH feels 

it cannot establish a bounding approach even if the 

microfilm/microfiche records were to become available. 

 NIOSH concludes it cannot bound internal doses for the 

period from January 1, 1949 through December 31, 1962, 

but will continue to assess post-1962 dose reconstruction 

feasibility in a subsequent evaluation for SNL.
NIOSH Recommendation Regarding 

Non-SEC Claims

Although NIOSH found that it is not 

possible to completely reconstruct internal 

radiation doses for the proposed class, 

NIOSH intends to use any internal and 

external monitoring data that may become 

available for an individual claim (and that 

can be interpreted using existing NIOSH 

dose reconstruction processes or 

procedures)
NIOSH Recommended Class

All employees of the Department of Energy, its 

predecessor agencies, and its contractors and 

subcontractors who worked in any area at Sandia 

National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New 

Mexico, from January 1, 1949 through December 

31, 1962, 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
NIOSH Recommendation

Summary of Feasibility Findings for SEC-00162

(January 1, 1949 through December 31, 1962)

Sources of Exposure Reconstruction Feasible Reconstruction Not Feasible

Internal X

External X

- Gamma X

- Beta X

- Neutron X

- Occupational Medical

X-ray

X