CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY

AND HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD ON RADIATION AND WORKER HEALTH

148TH MEETING

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2022

The meeting convened at 11:00 A.M. EDT

via video teleconference,

Dr. Henry Anderson, Chair, presiding.

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Members Present: 

Henry Anderson, Chair 

Josie Beach, Member 

David Kotelchuck, Member 

James Lockey, Member 

Genevieve S. Roessler, Member 

Loretta Valerio, Member

Paul L. Ziemer, Member 

Registered and/or Public Comment Participants:

Rashaun Roberts, Designated Federal Official

Grady Calhoun, DCAS

Tim Taulbee, DCAS

LaVon Rutherford, DCAS

Chuck Nelson, ORAU Team

Bob Barton, SC&A

Steve Ostrow, SC&A 

Joe Fitzgerald, SC&A

Ron Buchanan, SC&A 

Rose Gogliotti, SC&A 

Asheton Habighurst, SC&A 

Chris Crawford
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational 

Safety and Health Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health 148th Meeting 

Thursday, October 20, 2022.............................................................................................................. 1

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

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

Introduction of New Staff........................................................................................................... 5

Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) Petition Status Update ...............................................14

Updates from Work Groups and Subcommittees............................................................15

Plans for the December 2022 Board Meeting...................................................................23

Board Correspondence ..............................................................................................................33
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PROCEEDINGS

(11:00 A.M.) 

Welcome and Roll Call

DR. ROBERTS: And it just turned 11:00 on my clock, so it's time to 

officially open the meeting. Good morning, everyone and welcome. I'm 

with Rashaun Roberts. I'm the designated federal official, or DFO, for the 

Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health.

Just a few preliminaries before we get into the agenda. The meeting 

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

program. You can go to October 2022 to access -- access it.

Since this is a telephonic meeting, I did want to discuss the use of our 

technology. So in order to keep the meeting moving forward without 

interruption and so that the court reporter can hear, I would ask each of you 

to, please, make sure your phone is on mute unless, of course, you need to 

speak. And if you don't have a mute button on your phone, press star six to 

mute. If you need to take yourself off, you just need off, you just need to 

press star six again. Also, because we'll be unable to see each other for the 

meeting, please, identify yourself before your comments or questions.

So with that, I'd like to formally start this meeting. The primary 

purpose is to prepare for our December 2022 Board meeting, although there 

are a few other items on the agenda today. So with that said, let me move 

into roll call. I'll start with Board Members in alphabetical order, then move 

on to other -- others. We don't need to cover conflict of interest since this is 

primarily an administrative meeting. So let's start with our Chair.
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(Roll call for Members.)

DR. ROBERTS: So it looks like we have a few people out, but we do 

have seven, which is a quorum, so I think we're okay.

Let's move on to NIOSH, DCAS, and ORAUT.

(Roll call for NIOSH, DCAS, ORAUT, SC&A, HHS and contractors, the 

Department of Labor and Department of Energy.)

DR. ROBERTS: All right. Well, hearing no additional, let's move on to 

any members of the public who are on it who would like to announce their 

attendance at this time.

Okay. Hearing none, so let's go on and move into the agenda now.

Again, please, periodically check your phone to make sure that you're 

muted. Again, if you don't have a mute button, press star six to mute. If 

you need to take yourself off, press star six again.

So without any further delay, Andy, I'll turn the floor over to you.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. I'd like to welcome everybody as we head 

into the fall-winter season here. This is meeting 148 of the Advisory Board 

on Radiation and Worker Health, so welcome.

Introduction of New Staff 

CHAIR ANDERSON: And next up is introduction of new staff. 

Rashaun, who's the new staff?

DR. ROBERTS: Okay. So we do have someone from OGC who just 

joined us -- 

DR. ANDERSON: (Indiscernible) here?

DR. ROBERTS: Yes, yes.
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DR. ANDERSON: Okay, that's fine.

DR. ROBERTS: And she had -- 

DR. ANDERSON: Go ahead.

DR. ROBERTS: She does have -- 

MS. HABIGHURST: Good morning, everyone.

DR. ROBERTS: -- (indiscernible) -- 

MS. HABIGHURST: Oh. Okay. I'll -- I'll -- I'll introduce myself. Good 

morning everyone. Thanks for giving me the opportunity. As Dr. Anderson 

and Rashaun have mentioned, my name is Asheton. I am a new attorney 

with NIOSH, and I will be primarily providing advice on legal matters 

pertaining to OCA. I am coming from the private sector where in the last 

decade I worked at a law firm that was dedicated to obtaining benefits for 

disabled veterans before the Department of Veterans Affairs. And while the 

scope of my work with veterans was very different than the work I'll be 

doing with OCA, I'm actually at least familiar with the concept and the 

process of dose reconstructions as I had a few veterans' cases involving 

radiation exposure.

So I'm very excited that I get the chance to assist you-all with the

important work that you do, and I just want to thank everyone for their 

kindness and patience in bringing me up to speed on my role in this process. 

And I'm very much looking forward to meeting everyone in person at the 

December Board meeting and putting faces to names. So that's it for me. 

Thank you.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Well, thank you and welcome. Everybody, when 

you -- when you see her email address, don't assume it's spam. So get it 
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out of your spam folder if it's a new name you haven't seen. So welcome, 

and we appreciate your participation and look forward to asking you 

questions and resolving any issues that come up.

So next up is -- Grady, are you going to talk about cybersecurity?

Update On Cybersecurity Modernization Initiative 

MR. CALHOUN: Yes, I will. I don't have a whole lot new to tell you. 

Our OD-IT group is still working through the process of developing 

something that performs as our previous system did. It's going to be a long 

time, I believe. So I'd still ask that any of you that need anything at all, 

make that request either, you know, through me or -- or LaVon Rutherford 

or Lori Marion-Moss. She's actually the point person who's been dealing 

with it. And we will try to get you any documents that we can into the 

virtual space so that you can review them. But nothing change -- nothing 

has significantly changed. I don't foresee anything coming out within at 

least 12 months. So I think we're going to be in this manual mode until 

then, unfortunately. And that's all I have.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay, thank you.

So everybody, when you need things and you have questions, now you 

know where to go and Grady's the person. Unfortunately, if it's going to be 

-- I was going to ask, is this going to be kind of the new normal now for a 

while, that sounds like what it is if you're saying it's going to be at least a 

year before there's some final conclusion. I guess, I assume it'll be sort of 

MS. BEACH: Do you have -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- dribs and drabs as it -- 

MS. BEACH: This is -- 
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CHAIR ANDERSON: -- come out access to it. So everybody -- just 

hopefully you've been able to work out getting access to your data, so don't 

just wait for the conclusion here of the whole process. Be sure you get what 

you need now and we'll -- Grady will accommodate us as best they can. So 

thanks a lot, Grady.

MS. BEACH: Hey, Henry, -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: (Indiscernible) -- 

MS. BEACH: -- Josie, I have -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- Josie.

MS. BEACH: So moving forward, I understand, Grady, that you're 

saying that it's going to be a long time. That -- that doesn't really give us 

any information. Are you getting bits and pieces of what the plan is moving 

forward that can be shared with -- 

MR. CALHOUN: Yeah, sure.

MS. BEACH: -- when we first started, we -- we had time lines, but in 

the last year, it just seems like that's up in the air and the -- for a -- for the 

Board and for SC&A, our contractor, they have absolutely zero searching 

ability. So everything -- and -- and I realize you guys are right on trying to 

get the documents, but sometimes you don't know what you want until you 

start looking through. Can you just give us any sense of what that looks like 

moving forward? I mean a year out, just seems like such a long time.

MR. CALHOUN: It is, it is, Josie. It is a long time. And I think that's 

optimistic, actually. We are in exactly the same situation as you are as far 

as looking for documents. We have to go through ORAUT, have them look 

for almost everything that we need. I meet with OD-IT. I have at least one 
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weekly meeting with them. We're in the process of trying to look at, I'll call 

them, modules of what we used to have. And the first thing that we're 

looking at right now is initial case input. And they're developing an 

application for that, and we're supposed to see that, I guess, in the next 

couple of weeks.

But what happens is we have to write down all of the requirements 

and it's a very complex tree. And we say well, once we do this, then that 

has to happen, and once we do this, this document is generated and that 

has to happen. And we've been in the process of doing that for, I don't 

know, eight months it seems.

And then the engineers and OD-IT will come up with some ideas that 

they believe will meet our requirements. And then they'll run those by us, 

and we'll have some kind of demonstration to see if those work and meet 

our requirements.

This is a NIOSH-wide issue though, the IT modernization. So I wish I 

had more -- more details for you, but I don't. I'd love to get more details. 

I'd love a nice, concise project plan, but that's just not how this seems to be 

working right now. So it'll be, like I said, at least 12 months before we even 

get pieces and parts of this in place from what I'm being told, and it could be 

two years. So I'm sorry to tell you that, but we're in exactly the same boat 

you guys are.

MS. BEACH: Can I ask you another question of you, Grady?

MR. CALHOUN: Of -- 

MS. BEACH: Is it -- 

MR. CALHOUN: -- course.
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MS. BEACH: Is it is it possible to go on site for on-site searches at 

ORAUT -- is it -- if we had -- say, LANL -¬I know there's a lot of documents 

being processed for LANL. Is it possible for an SC&A team to -- to search on 

site?

MR. CALHOUN: To search at ORAUT's facility?

MS. BEACH: At ORAUT, yes.

MR. CALHOUN: I don't know. I'd have to -- I'd have to check the 

logistics of that to see what would be what would be required for you to gain 

access to their system. We don't have it. So I think that, you know, it 

might be difficult. So I can certainly check into that.

MS. BEACH: Okay, thank you.

CHAIR ANDERSON: So Grady, where -- where is the final decision 

made that whatever changes are made are sufficient? I mean, it's -- 

MR. CALHOUN: I -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- a process.

MR. CALHOUN: I don't -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: But I mean, who -- where does the buck stop on 

this? Is this all within NIOSH? Who -- who's making the determination that 

what's being planned and being done is adequate and sufficient, or are we 

just spinning our wheels here?

MR. CALHOUN: Well, that's a loaded question. We've got -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Well, I mean, there's got to be a endpoint in this.

MR. CALHOUN: Yes, and I -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: And it'd be nice to say here -- here is how things 

are far more secure and, you know, that's a great goal, you know, -- 
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MR. CALHOUN: Let me -- let me -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- how do you measure when you've reached that 

goal?

MR. CALHOUN: Again, OD-IT who is outside of -- of my division. ODIT has the ultimate call on whether the program meet the security 

requirements that are imposed. Right now it appears that they also have 

the initial responsibility to develop the program that they feel will fit our 

needs and then we can review. If we decide they don't meet our needs, I --

I -- I'm really not sure ultimately where that -- where that goes.

So it's OD-IT that -- that ultimately has that -- that -¬the final say on 

whether or not things meet the security requirements. And in theory, we're 

supposed to make sure that they meet all of our functionality requirements, 

but, you know, there may be some inconsistencies there that we want and 

that they can deliver because there is a -- a push across NIOSH that -- that 

custom programs are -- are -- are no longer used or used as little as 

possible. So there's going to be some significant search for a commercial 

off-the-shelf, they call it, program to fit our needs. I think that's going to be 

a challenge to find something that does what we do that's commercially 

available.

But OD-IT is looking into that and, like I said, we're -¬ we're -- we're 

meeting with them. I am personally meeting with them with my team at 

least once a week to figure this out. And -- and believe me, Dr. Anderson, I 

am as frustrated as you because it has been almost a year and a half. And I 

realized that --how difficult things are because they're -- they're just about 

as difficult for us as they are for you, and it's not a good thing.
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CHAIR ANDERSON: Well, I'm glad you're meeting with them. It's kind 

of -- across NIOSH, would you say, our program is the one that's most 

severely impacted by this process and the slowness of it?

MR. GRADY: Yeah, because our prog -- our program was the only one 

that was just -- the plug was pulled, but there's other things that don't affect 

us like they do other program -- other divisions. Evidently, you know, I 

mean, of course, in NIOSH there's a lot of laboratory, equipment, and 

supplies and things like that, especially the equipment, and they have 

software programs that run on those.

And from what I'm told, what I hear at lead team meetings and such is 

that that is affecting the other divisions significantly as far as purchasing 

software, purchasing hardware, and anything that has any kind of an IT 

component to it is affecting them. But I certainly would say that from an 

overall standpoint, our program -- this program has been the most severely 

impacted because as far as I know, there's not been any other programs 

that were actually stopped. Now, we were only stopped for a few months 

and then we got back up and running. We're hobbling, but we're still 

running.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah, I mean. Our -- our time lines and our 

statutory requirements and, as you know, a lot of the clients are -- are 

severely impacted and concerned about it. So it's a matter of if there's 

something as a Board more we can do or reach out to others or do we want 

to -- I mean, we're kind of pressing you, and you then have to move it up 

the ladder.

MR. CALHOUN: Right.
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CHAIR ANDERSON: But if you see any -- any way that we can be sure 

that others appreciate the stresses that are happening to our programs and 

our ability to respond in a timely fashion -- I would assume the next step 

somewhere along the line here, somebody's going to sue us.

MR. CALHOUN: Well, (indiscernible) -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- because of these -- go ahead.

MR. CALHOUN: Right now we're -- you know, right now, as far as 

individual dose reconstructions, we're getting those out as quick as we're 

getting them in. There's been -- you know, it -- it -- it's manual. It's not an 

automated process, but that's not been delayed. We are back to where we 

were, and there was only somewhat of a delay. I wouldn't say that there's 

been a significant delay in any of the SEC petition processing. It's 

inconvenient. I -- I'll give you that, but I don't think that there's been any 

significant delays that are much different than they were prior to this. But 

I'm screaming loud, Dr. Anderson, I promise you and -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay.

MR. CALHOUN: -- I'll -- there's people on this call that will get that 

message up, but I will as well.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay, thank you. Any other questions people 

have?

MS. BEACH: Well, I think the biggest point -- this is Josie again -- is 

that this severely hampers the Board's work and our contractors' work. I 

think that's the huge part of this -- NIOSH -- NIOSH has ORAUT to run its 

searches, but we -- we -- we are kind of -- our hands are kind of tied in 

what we search for and -¬ and in fact, we can't search for anything. So I --
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I -¬ that point really needs to be made very clear in who it's hampering and 

how it's hampering our work, so.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Any other questions? I think we just need to 

keep after it, and if there is anything that we can do further, Grady -- it 

sounds like you've handled all your incoming things. The problem is more 

on our side of what we need to do to be competent at our reviews and our

processing is -- meets the requirements that we need.

So if there's no further questions, special exposure.

Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) Petition Status Update 

MR. NELSON: Okay, thank you Dr. Anderson. Can everybody hear me 

okay?

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yes.

MR. NELSON: Okay, good morning, everybody. This upcoming 

December Board meeting we will not be presenting any new SEC petition 

evaluation. I will mention we did receive two Form B SEC submissions in the 

last few months. I mentioned one of the two petitions at the last Advisory 

Board meeting in August when I gave the update. That particular 

submission is from June. The status of that one is it's currently still on hold 

awaiting employment verification from social security.

Then we got another SEC petition about a month ago. And this one, 

the facility specified by the petitioner wasn't a current covered facility under 

EEOICPA, but we did submit documentation provided by the petitioner to 

Department of Energy for them to determine if it should be considered a 

covered facility, so we will see how that one goes. So other than that, that's 
15

about all I have for the update today. I'm expecting the workgroup chairs 

will provide updates today as needed on current and ongoing SEC petitions 

of the Advisory Board.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions? Okay, not hearing 

anything, so thank you.

CHAIR ANDERSON: So -- so let's move on to workgroup and 

subcommittee updates. There's been a couple of meetings, I think. Did we 

hear about those?

Updates from Work Groups and Subcommittees 

MS. BEACH: This is just -- this is Josie. I'll start. The Procedures 

Subcommittee had a meeting the end of September. And as you know, the 

last several meetings we've been going through our backlog and presenting 

those to the Board, and we will continue to do that. Kathy's working on a 

list that we agreed upon during our subcommittee meeting, so I'll leave it at 

that for our December Board meeting.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. Other -- 

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Dave -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- subcommittees? 

MR. KOTELCHUCK: -- Kotelchuck. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Go ahead, -- 

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Dave Kotelchuck. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- Dave.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: The Rocky Flats Working Group met on October 

4th, and we had a successful meeting to update the -- the site profile for 
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Rocky Flats. And we made a lot of progress, I think, with that. That will be 

implemented.

The -- the -- the -- I think that's -- we also have I think we also 

have a meeting of the Subcommittee on Dose Reconstruction Reviews and 

that -- we're going to be -- we are going to change our process just a little 

bit because -- because of this cyber --cybersecurity modernization initiative. 

We are actually going to start the next set with cases. We're going to be 

looking at cases and then later when, hopefully, we have better access, 

we're going to be doing the blinds. So we're doing it a little out of order, but 

we are progressing. So okay, that's it.

MS. BEACH: This is Dave -- this is Josie. Dave, Joe, did you say the 

subcommittee has a meeting scheduled for the dose reconstruction, or...?

MS. BEACH: No, there is no -- we don't have one scheduled now, no.

MS. BEACH: Okay, thank you. I thought I -- I thought I heard you 

that we did, so I'm -- thanks.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Okay, good.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: Dave, this is Rose. I just wanted to 

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Yes, hello.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: -- point out that -- 

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Hi, there.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: Hi. -- we delivered the 31st set of dose 

reconstruction cases about two weeks ago now, but we have decided to hold 

off on doing the one-on-ones for those cases. After discussing it with Dr. 

Anderson, we are going to wait until the December Board meeting when we 

have our new Board Members come online, and we're going to have them sit 
17

in to the one-on-one calls. So it will be the two more experienced Board 

Members and then an additional new Board Member that will just listen in.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Okay, wonderful. That sounds fine.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: So that will be -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: (Indiscernible) decide.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: -- in December.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Good.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: Sorry, what was that, Andy?

CHAIR ANDERSON: Oh, I was going to say after that, we'll make the 

assignments and let people know and begin the process again, so.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: Okay, great. And then Dave, you said, are we 

working on getting cases from NIOSH for the 32nd set, or what's the status 

of that?

MR. KOTELCHUCK: The -- I thought the next set was 31. What -- is it 

not?

MS. GOGLIOTTI: We just completed the 31st set.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Right.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: So the next set will be 32.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Right.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: So NIOSH will need to deliver a sample of sets or 

cases to the Board -- 

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah, I'll be -- Rose, I'll be in contact to start 

facilitating that soon.

MS. GOGLIOTTI: Okay, sounds great. Thank you.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Sounds good. Welcome back, Rose.
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MS. BEACH: And Henry, this is Josie again. Sorry. When will the 

assignments be made for the 31st set? Is that going to be done at the 

December meeting or prior to the December meeting?

CHAIR ANDERSON: I think it depends on when the new Board 

Members -- we have their conflict of interest information all together.

MS. BEACH: Okay.

CHAIR ANDERSON: So if we can do it before and -- and discuss it 

there, we will but it may -- may be after that. So we want to get everybody 

working their -- we're going to -- we'll talk a bit about December meeting 

and having an extra day for some training and getting everybody up to 

speed on all these issues rather than try to do it piecemeal.

MS. BEACH: Okay, and then -- this is Josie again. One more 

question. Sorry, I lost my train of thought now. Go ahead.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Anyone else?

MS. ROESSLER: Henry? I would like to -- this is Gen Roessler -- do 

an update on the Idaho National Lab/ Argonne National Lab West Work 

Group.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Go ahead.

MS. ROESSLER: Okay. I'm -- I'm the new chair of that group since 

Phil Schofield, who was the chair previously, has retired. Other members of 

the group are Dr. Anderson, Josie Beach, and David Richardson. I have 

received a summary from NIOSH of activities that they have going on that 

are pertinent to the workgroup. A number of things that I think we need to 

have reviewed for us because it appears that we'll need to be ready soon for 

another workgroup meeting.
19

Dr. Cardarelli is the NIOSH lead on INL/ANL West, and I don't think 

he's on the phone yet, is he?

MR. CRAWFORD: No, he's not. 

MS. ROESSLER: Apparently not. 

MR. CRAWFORD: -- Chris.

MS. ROESSLER: Oh, okay. So I'm wondering, Chuck Nelson, I know 

is. Chuck, would you be able to review what NIOSH is working on for INL?

MR. NELSON: I certainly can, and if [identifying 

information redacted]there, he can pipe in if I don't get everything 

exactly correct. But yeah, I'll go through this. This was provided to me -- 

MS. ROESSLER: Okay.

MR. NELSON: -- by Dr. Cardarelli. First up, he said that INL/ANL 

West team is finalizing a new technical-basis document inside profile. It's 

going to incorporate six internal co-exposure models. He also mentioned 

that a document that summarizes the interview comments regarding the 

burial ground has been uploaded to the virtual volume, so the workgroup 

should have access to that now. There was an email that was submitted 

back in September on that. So if anybody's having issues getting into that, 

please, let us know.

Also, remote access to Idaho National Labs' electronic document 

management system, that they call the EDMS, has been completed for 

NIOSH, but it remains open for SC&A because they haven't been tasked by 

the Board -- they need to work with that yet. Access was requested to 

review air monitoring results associated with the burial grounds, so NIOSH 

recently learned that much of the air sampling data to be reviewed is, quote, 
20

restricted in the EDMS view, so.

NIOSH and ORAUT started the process to gain access to review those 

documents. And my office is also finalizing report 100 in an evaluation of 

what the predicted cesium 137 intakes using INL sites' whole-body counting 

detection capabilities are and to demonstrate if OTIB-54 provides a bounding 

internal dose approach.

And finally, the update he wanted to provide is that NIOSH and ORAUT 

are consider -- considering a trip to the site. The potential date that they 

have thus far is December 12th, but that has not been confirmed. And the 

purpose will be to meet with the INL/ANL West point of contracts -- there's 

some new ones and they want to meet with them -- and also to look at air 

sampling data prior to the 1975 related to the burial grounds. And also, this 

is a SC -- a site profile issue where they're going to look for post 1954 NTA 

film records. And finally for that visit, they wanted to obtain in-person 

EDMS training and experience so they can address these restricted EDMS 

issues. So if this site visit is sped up, then we will certainly give a heads-up 

to the workgroup so that they can attend this if they so choose.

So that's the update I got from Dr. Cardarelli.

Hopefully that was clear enough and -- for you all.

MS. ROESSLER: Okay, thanks. Thank you, Chuck.

I assume the site visit in December is dependent on the weather there 

in Idaho Falls.

MR. NELSON: I would imagine that it could be nasty at that time of 

year.

MS. ROESSLER: So the workgroup then will -- will look for word from 
21

DR. Cardarelli as to when enough information is available for us to call a 

meeting. And I assume that we're going to concentrate on the -- the 

interviews that -- the interview comments that are now available. But in 

any event, do let us know and we'll get ready for a meeting.

MR. NELSON: We certainly will.

MS. ROESSLER: Okay, that's it, Henry.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay, thank you.

Other committees? I -- I would tend to agree on the last one that the 

interviews are really going to be important, so we'll focus on that.

Other -- other comments? Committees?

Okay, so let's talk some about the December Board meeting. 

Rashaun?

DR. ROBERTS: Thanks, Andy.

So before we get into the December Board meeting, I just wanted to 

provide a couple of updates. So for the new Members, we're still, you know, 

kind of working with the paperwork for officially on-boarding them. It's still 

being reviewed and processed, but we do fully expect for the -- the Board --

new Board Members to be formally onboard ahead of the December Board 

meeting.

I also just wanted to call attention to the email that I sent to Board 

Members this morning indicating that the call for nominations for new board 

members is -¬has been published. The FRN has been published. It was 

published a couple of days ago. So if folks feel like there are folks that they 

feel would be appropriate for the Board, please, feel free to to bring the FRM 

to their attention.
22

So in terms of the Board meeting, as Andy had mentioned, since it has 

been kind of difficult to anticipate when the on-boarding for the new 

Members will actually be completed, basically, I had decided that it may 

make more sense to kind of add a -- use December 7th, as the day to sort of 

do some orienting and also some other administrative things to get the new 

Board Members, you know, kind of acclimated to the Board before the full 

Board meeting on December 8th. So right now I'm working with Nancy 

Adams to sort of craft a -- an agenda for conducting those activities, which 

would be a closed administrative session essentially on December 7th.

Also, it may make sense rather than doing our annual ethics training, 

you know, in April, to go ahead and do that in December so that the new 

Board Members really have had that training prior to the first formal Board 

meeting, and it may make sense to include everybody in that training at that 

point. But anyway, I will keep everybody posted on the agenda for 

December 7th.

In terms of content for the actual Board meeting, there's enough to 

cover a full day Thursday, December 8th starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. We 

have, sort of, the usual suspects for the first several agenda items; the 

welcome, the program, the NIOSH program update, the DOL program and 

DOE program update. I do have a slot reserved for an update from the 

Rocky Flats Plant workgroup and gave -- I had thought maybe a half hour 

but wanted to confirm that that would be sufficient time for you and/or Joe 

to -- to provide that update.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: So that -- that probably is. If anything, that's 

plenty. In fact, 20 minutes would be fine. Joe -- Joe, maybe you'll want to 
23

speak a little bit at that -- at that time. So certainly 20 minutes will be 

okay, half an hour will be fine.

DR. ROBERTS: Okay, great. All right. Thank you for that. The other 

agenda item on here is an update on the review of the Pinellas Plant DR, and 

in speaking with Bob, allocating somewhere between 60 to 90 minutes for 

that. So I really -- I have it down for 75 minutes, Bob, if that works.

Plans for the December 2022 Board Meeting 

MR. BARTON: Yeah, this is -- this is Bob Barton. That -¬ that should 

be plenty of time in comments with the team. Probably 60 would even be 

fine, but 75, certainly, for questions from the Board and such. I think that's 

perfectly adequate.

DR. ROBERTS: Okay, sounds good. Then we have the procedures 

review finalization document approvals. Right now I have that down for 90 

minutes. So Josie and Kathleen, if you would get feedback on whether or 

not that's enough time.

MS. BEHLING: This is Kathy. I'm not -¬ 

MS. BEACH: Yeah, -- oh, go ahead. Sorry.

MS. BEHLING: No, that's all right, Josie.

This is Kathy Behling. Ninety minutes should be fine, yes. I'm 

working through the presentations, and there are about seven or eight 

documents, so definitely 90 minutes should be adequate.

DR. ROBERTS: Josie, did you have any comment?

MS. BEACH: No, I was just gonna say I hadn't heard from Kathy, but 

since she spoke up, we're all good. Thanks.
24

DR. ROBERTS: Okay, great. And then as per usual, we have about 15 

minutes for the SEC petition status update. And since we are going to have 

new Members, instead of the typical hour for the Board work session, I did 

allocate about an hour and a half, you know, just to provide for the new 

Members. And then, of course, we have the hour for the public comment 

session in the evening.

So that's really the extent of the agenda. Is anything missed in that?

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Just a -- Rashaun, before you -- I assume that the 

CVs of the new members are -- are not confidential. I mean, have we 

circulated that to all the Members so they could just get a little bit of sense 

by looking at their CVs? Some of them are already known to some of the 

Members but not to all of them.

DR. ROBERTS: No, I haven't circulated them. I -- I've been more 

focused on just trying to get these things to HR and also to review them for 

their -- their ethics package, but, you know, certainly that might be 

something that we look toward doing.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Okay. Because we're -- we've already talked a 

little bit about assigning them to various groups, so part of that is knowing 

what their skills and experience is, and now the only other thing that's -

¬conflicts they may have. We don't want to assign somebody to a group 

that then they're conflicted with.

DR. ROBERTS: Right. So that review is in progress with CDC about, 

you know, the -- the -- the 450 forms and all of that, you know, are being 

reviewed at this point.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Anyone have any other suggestions or things that 
25

we could put on the agenda? It's pretty full now for one day.

MS. BEACH: I -- this is Josie. I have a question on the list that was 

sent out by Rashaun. There was a couple of the -- well, the sub -- my 

subcommittee, for one, and one -- I think it's yours, Henry -- looked like 

they were short of Members. Is there any plan to add, like, another person 

to the procedure subcommittee? And I think Henry's the old TBD-6001?

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yes.

MS. BEACH: Is there, okay. I didn't know if we were waiting for new 

Members, or...

CHAIR ANDERSON: Well, it's going to be the new Members, so we 

want them to not just get a single thing, so there's a number that could 

benefit either trying to balance the membership as well as the numbers. So 

yeah, 

MS. BEACH: Okay, great.

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- we're at looking at -- 

MS. BEACH: Okay, -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- you know -- 

MS. BEACH: -- thank you.

DR. ROBERTS: And it -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: And Rashaun, did the new list get -- 

DR. ROBERTS: And it -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- sent around? I didn't look at it 

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah, no, I did send that. And -- and yes, I mean, 

there's a plan to add and Board Members to -- to groups as appropriate. 

And Andy, in our discussions, I think, we really looked at -- you know, tried 
26

to prioritize, you know, kind of which groups to add to -- to add to the 

membership, like for instance, Phil's departure, you know, we've really had 

to address those working groups, and then there are others that we've been 

trying to prioritize to shore up the membership.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Has everybody had a chance to look over the --

the roster that -- that she just sent around? Anything that you looked at 

that you said oh, I thought I was on there but I'm not or vice versa?

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Well, the former -- Dave -- can you hear me?

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yep.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: You only have two people on the uranium refining 

AWEs listed Anderson and -- yourself and Fields. I have been on that 

committee. I'm perfectly happy to continue, but I'm also happy to retire to 

all the other responsibilities. But I have been on that committee previously.

CHAIR ANDERSON: All right. Let me look here. Yeah.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: It may just be an oversight, but whatever.

MR. ZIEMER: This is Paul Ziemer. I have a question on the 

assignments as well. I -- I have -- I could -- I could have looked at this 

myself, but I didn't have a chance to yet. How is the balance amongst our 

Members in terms of numbers of assignments? Has anybody looked at this 

to see if -- if there are some that are carrying too much of the weight and 

some not carrying enough if you can -- not that everybody should be equal 

and some subcommittees have more workloads to start with, but has that 

been looked at and, sort of, the distribution of workloads?

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yes, we have.

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah.
27

CHAIR ANDERSON: Rashaun, do you want to -- 

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah. Yeah, we did actually tabulate the number of --

of workgroups that people were on in addition to the number of workgroups 

various people are serving as the chairs for.

MR. ZIEMER: Okay. Good.

DR. ROBERTS: So all of that is taken into account as we considered 

these new assignments and such.

MR. ZIEMER: Okay. Thank you. 

DR. ROBERTS: Uh-huh.

CHAIR ANDERSON: But yes, there -- some have more and we're 

trying not to expand people volunteering to be on -- we have some people 

that are volunteering more than others, so we're trying to look at and 

balance it up as best we can.

MR. ZIEMER: Yeah, I appreciate that. I -- I'm not saying everybody 

should be equal, but I want to sort of make sure that we're -- that -- that 

people are at least doing their share.

CHAIR ANDERSON: We did that when we're looking at Phil's position, 

asking people to take over a chair and things like that, so we're trying to 

keep it as balanced as possible.

And -- and the other question I would have for all of the Board 

Members is, is everybody planning to travel to the Florida December 

meeting?

MS. BEACH: Yes, at this point, I am, Henry. Josie here.

MR. LOCKEY: Yes. Jim Lockey. I am.

MR. ZIEMER: Well, this is Paul. I'm planning to.
28

CHAIR ANDERSON: Good.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Yes. Dave. I will. I -- 

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: This is -- 

MR. KOTELCHUCK: I -- I wondered, actually, whether we were going 

to have it in person given the terrible things has -- have happened in Florida 

with the hurricanes, but sure, I'll be there.

MR. ZIEMER: I think the Tampa area has not been hit as badly as the 

other areas.

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Oh, good. Good. 

CHAIR ANDERSON: I mean, -- 

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: This is -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- things can change between now and then, but 

we just need a plan if -- if some people are planning to -- they aren't going 

to be able to travel, then we'll have to be sure we've got a setup for virtual, 

but that's -- we've done that with -- for the public as well. So we just -- 

MS. ROESSLER: Henry, this is Gen. I don't -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Go ahead.

MS. ROESSLER: This is Gen. I don't plan to be at the December 

meeting in person.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay, that's fine, but you'll be able to call in?

MS. ROESSLER: Oh, yes, yes.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay, good. Good. I don't want us to be 

scrambling at the end. I think we're in pretty good shape.

Okay, Rashaun, do we have anything else for December?

DR. ROBERTS: I just wanted -- wanted to just tell folks that the -- the 
29

site, the hotel that we're setting this up for is the St. Peterburg Marriott 

Clearwater, and it's in St. Petersburg. Florida.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Do people fly into -- what airport?

DR. ROBERTS: Hang on. I believe -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Tampa?

DR. ROBERTS: -- it's Tampa. Uh-huh.

MS. BEACH: Rashaun, this is Josie again. Oh that, what's -- is there 

something changed in how we can send in our travel requests or do we have 

to have paperwork filled out ahead of time? We haven't traveled in a while 

for the Board, so -- 

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah. I think many of the procedures are the same in 

-- in terms of submitting travel request and then, of course, after the trip, 

you know, your -¬your request for reimbursement, but those are things that 

are handled by Zaida and so she -- 

MS. BEACH: Right.

DR. ROBERTS: -- will be in touch and be coordinating that piece.

MS. BEACH: Okay. I (indiscernible) -- 

MR. ZIEMER: This is Paul again.

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah.

MR. ZIEMER: I can tell you that travel things are not the same in 

terms of paperwork because I had to travel to Cincinnati recently for my 

smart card, and before you can ask for any travel voucher to travel, there is 

a form that has to be completed that I think partially has to do with COVID 

status. And that's a -¬ that's a separate form from the exact -- from the 

travel itself. You have to get permission to travel. And it's -- I don't know. 
30

It's a it's a new process. Before Zaida could arrange the travel, I had to 

get a separate permission to travel, and it comes from a different group.

MS. BEACH: Right, and that's why I -- 

MR. ZIEMER: (Indiscernible) travel -- 

DR. BEACH: Yeah.

DR. ROBERTS: Well, actually it's -- and maybe someone in DCAS 

would know this. I'm not sure, you know, those things are sort of changing 

and evolving with how -- 

MR. ZIEMER: Right.

DR. ROBERTS: CDC is handling COVID. So I don't know if -- Grady, 

do -- do you know if that's still required that they have to submit something 

for COVID? I thought I heard that that was no longer the case, but I'm not 

sure.

MR. CALHOUN: I believe that is no longer the case, Rashaun.

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah.

MR. CALHOUN: Last time I traveled, -- 

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah.

MR. CALHOUN: -- I did not have to.

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah, I thought so.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible) -- 

DR. ROBERTS: So anyway, I think the best thing is to wait for 

direction from Zaida on -- on what you need to do to prepare for travel.

CHAIR ANDERSON: What -- what I would suggest -¬DR. ROBERTS: 

(Indiscernible) -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- when you hear, don't delay it in getting the 
31

process going.

DR. ROBERTS: Right.

MR. LOCKEY: Yeah, I would -- Lockey. I would -- I would concur --

that that some of us may be going to Florida and then extending their trip 

down there, so I guess I -- I guess we just contact Zaida directly then?

DR. ROBERTS: Yeah, she would be the point of contact. And, you 

know, I -- I believe she's going to reach out once we're at that point of 

needing to get the paperwork going.

MR. LOCKEY: And I assume you have to make our reservations 

through a government agency, right?

DR. ROBERTS: Again, I -- I mean, I'm not up on the travel 

requirements, and I -- I think it's probably less confusing, you know, to have 

Zaida just provide the guidance for what's needed.

MR. LOCKEY: Okay.

So Henry, would it be worthwhile having Zaida put together a 

conference call for us all so we all can ask her at one time or not?

CHAIR ANDERSON: We could, I guess. We don't want to have it 

become a formal forum for -- 

MR. LOCKEY: No, we don't want a formal Board meeting, but I can --

I can call her directly but I -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah, I -- 

MR. LOCKEY: -- suspect she's going to (indiscernible)-- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah, I think it's probably better to -¬ let's --

what I would say is let's -- 

DR. ROBERTS: Can I -- 
32

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- (indiscernible) she'll put together the 

instructions, she can send that out to everybody, and then we can see if 

there's enough questioning. I know trying to extend, they have changed. 

They tightened up a little bit on, you know, combining personal travel or 

multiple business travel with the CDC travel. So we need a -- 

MR. LOCKEY: Well, maybe sooner than later from Zaida, that may be 

better for all of us, I think.

DR. ROBERTS: Let me meet with Zaida and just check with her on, 

kind of, the best way to proceed with -¬with this. And then, you know, we 

will let you know accordingly.

MR. LOCKEY: Great.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Any other questions? So our last is the Board 

correspondence. I think it was just today is when we got a copy of a letter 

from the National Center for Health Research, which raised some radiation -- 

DR. ROBERTS: Actually, -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- (indiscernible) -- go ahead.

DR. ROBERTS: I'm sorry to interrupt, Andy. Actually, that refers to

the tribute letters for Phil. I believe we were going to read those into -- 

CHAIR ANDERSON: Oh, okay.

DR. ROBERTS: -- the record.

CHAIR ANDERSON: I'm sorry, go ahead.

DR. ROBERTS: Uh-huh. Okay, did -- were you going to read them or 

how -- how do you want to do it?

CHAIR ANDERSON: Do you have them there? I'm looking for -- 

DR. ROBERTS: Let me -- okay, let me -- are you on email?
33

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah, I can. Which email? My personal email, 

yeah.

DR. ROBERTS: Okay. Let me send them to you.

CHAIR ANDERSON: I don't know if I got them, so... Okay, I got it. 

There's two.

DR. ROBERTS: Yes, correct.

MR. ZIEMER: This is Paul. I think there was one from the Board itself 

and the other was maybe from NIOSH or from ah...

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah, I have the DCAS one. I can -- you want me 

to read that in?

MR. ZIEMER: Yeah, from DCAS. Yeah.

Board Correspondence 

CHAIR ANDERSON: All right. The tribute to Phil Schofield. (Reading): 

On the occasion of Mr. Phillip Schofield's long service on the Advisory Board, 

Radiation & Worker Health Board, the staff of the Division of Compensation 

Analysis and Support ("DCAS") of the National Risk Institute for 

Occupensation -- Occupational Safety & Health ("NIOSH") and John Howard, 

the Director of NIOSH, are all honored to pay tribute to Mr. Phillip Schofield 

for his long and distinguished service to the Board.

Mr. Schofield was appointed to the Board by President George W. 

Bush in 2007. Prior to serving on the Board, Phil worked for Los Alamos 

National Laboratory for 21 years. His extensive understanding and 

experience in handling and processing of the radionuclide plutonium and 

ameri -- americium greatly aided Board's work over his years. In his last 
34

five years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Phil served as an Operations 

Center Specialist running and monitoring all systems at the TA-55 Plutonium 

Facility. He also worked as a volunteer with the Los Alamos Project as -- on 

worker safety throughout the Department of Energy's Cold War history.

Few in any of the many DOA nuclear weapons complexes and faced 

and understood the safety applications of so many unique exceptionally 

hazardous radiation risks as he has. As a Board Member, Phil always asked 

the question that his fellow workers would have asked if they had a seat on 

the Board. Phil represented all atomic energy workers graciously and 

respectfully. He was dogged in his determination to pursue every avenue of 

radiation exposure for each claimant.

For over a decade the Board has benefitted from Phil's dedication, 

professionalism, and collegial manner. Members of the Board greatly thank 

Phil Schofield for his valuable service to the Board and to his fellow atomic 

weapons patriots. He has served the Board and the United States of 

America in a -- in an exemplary manner.

This tribute is hereby adopted this 20th day of October at the 148th 

conference meeting of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health.

This is the Advisory Board, a tribute to Phil Schofield: (Reading): 

Members of the Advisory Board on Radiation Worker Health wish to pay 

tribute to Mr. Phil Schofield, who resigned September 1st of this year, 2022, 

from the Board after his long and distinguished tenure. Phil was appointed 

to the Board by President George W. Bush in 2007. Prior to serving on the 

Board, Phil work for Los Alamos National Laboratory for 21 years.

His extensive understanding and experience in handling and 
35

processing of plutonium and americium contributed to the Board's work over 

his years as a Board Member. Phil spent his last five years on Los Alamos 

National Laboratory as an Operations Center Specialist running and man --

monitoring all systems at the TA-55 Plutonium Facility and working as a 

volunteer with the Los Alamos Project on worker safety.

Throughout it's Cold War history few in the nuclear weapons complex 

have faced so many unique exceptionally hazardous radiation risks squarely 

and knowingly in secret as he has. Other Cold War Patriots have written or 

spoken at length about their health sacrifices, but that was never Phil. The 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act was 

meant especially for him and his fellow workers above others, and Phil is one 

of those patriots.

Phil always asked the questions that his fellow workers would have 

asked if they have not had -- if they had not had an opportunity, both those 

who knew they might be in harm's way and those who didn't. He 

represented all atomic energy workers graciously and respectfully, and he 

did not let up on their behalf. Phil was always present at the mountain light, 

a remarkable feat considering the many health issues faced personally.

The Board has benefited from and will long remember his enduring 

collegial spa-soft spoken manner, his chairing of workgroups, and his good 

company during meetings. And as much as Phil made significant con --

contributions to the ongoing work on the Board during his years of 

Membership, we who remain as Members of the Board gratefully thank him 

for his service. He has served the Board and this country well.

This tribute is hereby adopted this 20th day of October at the 148th 
36

meeting of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health.

I think that's -- those are the only ones that I have. I think many 

people made comments at the last meeting. Anyone else want to say any --

any further words for Phil?

MR. ZIEMER: This is Paul. Just a question. Do we need to formally 

adopt these tributes, or is it sufficient just to read them into the record?

CHAIR ANDERSON: I think it's probably sufficient. We can formally 

adopt them. I would assume everybody agrees with everything that's there 

since -- pretty...

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Yes, yes, we do. We do. Dave.

MS. BEACH: Definitely. Will those be sent to Phil?

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yes.

MS. BEACH: Those words? Okay.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. Rashaun, do we have anything else?

DR. ROBERTS: No. That -- that's all I have.

MS. BURGOS: Excuse me, Rashaun, this is Zaida.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah, -- 

DR. ROBERTS: Hi, Zaida.

MS. BURGOS: I do have some information for travel, yes. I just get 

some from the week (indiscernible). Everybody have to fill out their travel 

assessment form. And also for the hotel, I will send out. As soon as I get 

the block of rooms from them, I will send that out to you guys so you can 

start making reservations so you can get the per diem rate.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Zaida, I -- you broke up -- 
37

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- you probably have rooms, what, for three 

nights?

MS. BURGOS: From the 6th to the 9th, yes.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Yeah. Four (sic) nights. I -- 

MS. BEACH: Zaida, this is -- this is Josie. You broke up a little bit. 

Are you going to send the travel requests to us to fill out, or are you filling 

that out for us?

MS. BURGOS: I have to send it to you guys. So I will send that out, 

like, tomorrow.

MS. BEACH: Okay. Thank you. 

MS. BURGOS: You're welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you very much. Appreciate that.

MS. BURGOS: No problem.

CHAIR ANDERSON: So any other comments, Rashaun?

DR. ROBERTS: None for me.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Any other Board Members? 

Okay. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn, if we have no other business.

MS. BEACH: I'll make that motion. This is Josie.

MR. ZIEMER: Second. Ziemer.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Okay. Thank you.

So I think we can do our vote on adjournment. And any objections to 

a adjourning?

MS. BEACH: No.

CHAIR ANDERSON: Hearing none, it's unanimous to adjourn. Watch 

for the emails on travel, and if you have other questions, send them on to 
38

Zaida. I look forward to seeing everybody. And -- 

MR. ZIEMER: Okay, bye-bye.

CHAIR ANDERSON: -- hopefully, what we've put together, it's gonna 

hold up. Any other comments?

MR. KOTELCHUCK: Look forward to seeing you all --Dave -- in person.

(Whereupon, the meeting was adjourned 12:06 p.m. EDT.)