Battelle Team 

Dose Reconstruction 

Project for NIOSH

Document Title: 

Site Profiles for Atomic Weapons Employers that 

Worked Uranium and Thorium Metals 

Appendix B – Birdsboro Steel & Foundry 

Company 

Document Number: Battelle-TBD-6000 

Appendix B 

Revision: 0 

Effective Date: 09/14/2007 

Type of Document: TBD Appendix

Supersedes: None 

Subject Experts: R.I. Scherpelz 

Document Owner 

Approval: Signature on file Approval Date: 8/23/2007 

Robert I. Scherpelz, Staff Scientist 

Approval: Signature on file Approval Date: 8/24/2007 

Jay A. MacLellan, Battelle PNWD Task Manager 

Concurrence: Signature on file Concurrence Date: 8/23/2007 

Richard J. Traub, Staff Scientist 

Approval: Signature on file Approval Date: 9/12/2007 

James W. Neton, Associate Director of Science 

 New Total Rewrite Revision Page Change 

FOR DOCUMENTS MARKED AS A TOTAL REWRITE, REVISION, OR PAGE CHANGE, REPLACE THE PRIOR 

REVISION AND DISCARD / DESTROY ALL COPIES OF THE PRIOR REVISION. 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6000; 

Appendix B 

Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 09/14/2007 Page 2 

Birdsboro Steel & Foundry Company 

B.1 Introduction 

This document serves as an appendix to Battelle-TBD-6000, Site Profiles for Atomic 

Weapons Employers that Worked Uranium and Thorium Metals. This appendix 

describes the results of document research specific to this site. Where specific 

information is lacking, research into similar facilities described in the body of this Site 

Profile is used. 

B.2 Site Description 

The Birdsboro Steel & Foundry Company located in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania was under 

contract with the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC) to assist in the design and 

development of the metal fabrication facilities, specifically the rolling mill plant, at the 

Feed Materials Production Center (FMPC), Fernald from 1951-1954. Activities 

documented and associated with uranium at Birdsboro are two small quantity 

developmental projects. The specific nature of each is not documented. Only the receipt 

of materials, i.e. one to two inch uranium wafers and the disposal of materials, i.e. 346 

pounds in the form of eight assorted pieces of uranium billets, are documented. In 1962, Birdsboro is documented as providing a rotary piercing device for the 

fabrication of uranium tubes at FMPC. An equipment acceptance test took place at 

Birdsboro but there are no references indicated whether or not uranium was handled in 

the acceptance test. The DOE Worker’s Advocacy site1

 limits the AWE work period to 

1951- 1952 so only activities that occurred within that time frame are considered here. 

No documentation was found indicating workers exposed to AEC related radioactive 

materials were exposed to other sources of radiation. 

B.2.1 Site Activities 

1951 – Eight pieces of billets received as process waste 

In November 1951, 346 pounds of uranium waste was received at Lake Ontario 

Ordinance Waste facility from Birdsboro. The waste was in the form of uranium billet 

pieces. (RefID9545, p16) For the purposes of dose reconstruction, the billets were 

assumed to be associated with developmental rolling work as part of the FMPC contract 

involving the design and development of the rolling mill plant at FMPC. 

1952 – Uranium wafers 

Some time after January 1952, four uranium wafers, which had been cut from uranium 

rods at Lackawanna, were shipped to Birdsboro. The combined weight of the wafers was 

11.5 pounds. Based upon a claimant’s account, they may have been associated with 

developmental work in uranium slug design, which involved crushing and pressing 

uranium pellets. 

No other activities are documented. Documentation was very limited. With the exception 

of the waste shipping reference found in a Tonawanda Area Monthly Report and the 

wafer shipment found in a single correspondence, all the information available for this 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6000; 

Appendix B 

Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 09/14/2007 Page 3 

site has come from FUSRAP documents, the DOE Worker’s Advocacy Site1 and the 

Residual Radioactivity Evaluations for Individual Sites.2 

B.2.2 Job Categories 

Each claim will be evaluated to determine the most appropriate Job Category from the list 

below. 

Developmental Rolling Campaign - 1951 

Plant Floor High (Involved directly in operations—dose based on Generic Metal 

TBD) 

Plant Floor Low (Involved in support of operations—dose based on 50% of plant 

floor high above) 

Supervisor (Assumed to spend some time in the production areas—dose based

on 25% of plant floor high above) 

Clerk (Assumed to have minimal exposure—dose based on exposure to 

2.5% of plant floor high above) 

Employed after AWE period 

 (Assumed to have no exposure based upon FUSRAP research) 

Uranium Wafers Work Unknown – 1952 

Plant Floor High While this TBD does not apply directly to the work, machining can 

be used. 

B.3 Occupational Medical Dose 

No information regarding occupational medical dose specific to Birdsboro Steel & 

Foundry Company was found. Information to be used in dose reconstructions for which 

no specific information is available is provided in ORAUT-OTIB-0006, the dose 

reconstruction project technical information bulletin covering diagnostic x-ray 

procedures. 

B.4 Occupational Internal Dose 

No air monitoring data were available for any of the work at the Birdsboro Steel & 

Foundry Company. Internal dose estimates have been derived from the Generic Metal 

TBD for rolling operations as well as machining operations, which typically accompany 

rolling. 

These values were used to derive the inhalation values presented in Table B.2. The 

values in the table present these values in terms of pCi for the total operational period in 

1951 and in 1952, since the duration of each operation was short. These values were also 

used to determine an ingestion intake in accordance with this TBD. Those values are 

presented as total pCi for the operational periods in Table B.3. 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6000; 

Appendix B 

Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 09/14/2007 Page 4 

B.5 Occupational External Dose 

No data were found in the ORAU Site Query Database related to occupational external 

dose during AEC work. External dose calculations are based upon the Generic Metal 

TBD for rolling operations as well as machining operations, which typically accompany 

rolling. 

Tables B.4 and B.5 present these values as total mrem for the operational period, or as 

mrem per calendar day value to be used for each calendar year listed. 

B.6 Residual Contamination 

The NIOSH “Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination at Atomic 

Weapons Employer Facilities and Beryllium Vender Facilities” indicates that: “...there is 

little potential for significant residual contamination outside the period in which 

weapons-related production occurred.”2

B.7 References 

1. DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security, EEOICPA web site. 

http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/fwsp/advocacy/faclist/findfacility.cfm 

.2. Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination at Atomic Weapons 

Employer Facilities and Beryllium Vender Facilities. 

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/pdfs/tbd/rescon/rcontam1206.pdf & 

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/pdfs/tbd/rescon/appen-a2.pdf 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6000; 

Appendix B 

Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 09/14/2007 Page 5 

Table B.1. Job Titles Corresponding to Exposure Categories for Birdsboro Steel. 

Job Title Exposure Category 

Machinist Plant Floor High Machining 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6000; Appendix B Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 09/14/2007 

Table B.2 INTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Inhalation of Airborne Radionuclides Assumptions:No process specific exposure data available – Generic Metal TBD used for all dose estimates. Very limited work performed at Birdsboro – some rolling of uranium rods and some machining into slugs. 1951: one week of rolling 1952: a short machining job TBD GSD Default is 5 Conversion Factor: 2.22 dpm/pCi Breathing Rate: 1.2 m^3/hour All intakes and doses assume full-time employment for the given year.Intakes values are the geometric mean of a lognormal distribution

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase Hr/Yr 

Relevant 

Nuclide 

Intake 

(pCi/d) GSD TBD Reference or Research Ju

Plant Floor High 1951 Operations 40 U234 209 5 Generic Metal TBD - Rolling OperatPlant Floor High 1952 Operations 8 U234 64.92 5 Generic Metal TBD - Machining OpPlant Floor Low 1951 Operations 20 U234 104.64 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Plant Floor Low 1952 Operations 4 U234 32.46 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Supervisor 1951 Operations 10 U234 52.32 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Supervisor 1952 Operations 2 U234 16 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Clerical 1951 Operations 1 U234 5 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Clerical 1952 Operations 0.2 U234 1.62 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6000; Appendix B Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 09/14/2007 

Table B.3 INTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Ingestion of Airborne Radionuclides Assumptions: Air Concentration to Intake Conversion Factor: 3.06E-05 (M^3/d)/(hr/y) - see 7.1.6 TBD-6000 Deposition velocity: 0.00075 m/s 

Resuspension Factor: 1.00E-06 1/m TBD GSD Default is 5

Intakes values are the geometric mean of a lognormal distribution

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase Hr/Yr 

Relevant 

Nuclide 

Intake 

(pCi/d) GSD TBD Reference or Research Jus

Plant Floor High 1951 Operations 40 U234 1.95 5 Generic Metal TBD - Rolling OperatoPlant Floor High 1952 Operations 8 U234 0.605 5 Generic Metal TBD - Machining OpePlant Floor Low 1951 Operations 20 U234 0.97 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Plant Floor Low 1952 Operations 4 U234 0.302 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Supervisor 1951 Operations 10 U234 0.49 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Supervisor 1952 Operations 2 U234 0.151 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Clerical 1951 Operations 1 U234 0.05 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Clerical 1952 Operations 0.2 U234 0.015 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6000; Appendix B Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 09/14/2007 

Table B.4 EXTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Whole Body Assumptions: Submersion Dose Conversion Factor: 2.462E-09 mrem/h/dpm/m^3 

Deposition velocity: 0.00075 m/s 

Contaminated Surface Dose Conversion Factor: 5.615E-10 mrem/h/dpm/m^2 All external dose from estimated exposure to uranium rods 

Residual period: Assume no handling of U metal - only exposure is from residual contamination on floor and in air 

Dose in this table is the geometric mean of a lognormal distribution

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase Hr/Yr 

Relevant 

Nuclide 

External 

Whole 

Body 

(mR/d) GSD TBD Reference or Research 

Plant Floor High 1951 Operations 40 U234 3.13E-02 5 Generic Metal TBD - Rolling OperatoPlant Floor High 1952 Operations 8 U234 6.25E-03 5 Generic Metal TBD - Machining OpePlant Floor Low 1951 Operations 20 U234 1.56E-02 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Plant Floor Low 1952 Operations 4 U234 3.13E-03 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Supervisor 1951 Operations 10 U234 7.81E-03 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Supervisor 1952 Operations 2 U234 1.56E-03 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Clerical 1951 Operations 1 U234 7.81E-04 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Clerical 1952 Operations 0.2 U234 1.56E-04 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High 
Document No. Battelle-TBD-6000; Appendix B Revision No. 0 Effective Date: 09/14/2007 

Table B.5 EXTERNAL DOSE PATHWAYS - Skin Assumptions: All assumptions from TBD-6000 Section 6.3 Operational Period: Non-penetrating dose to skin 115 mr/nour (hands and forearms) 10.4 mr/hour (other) 

Plant Floor High: Assume hands in contact with metal 50% of time. Other skin is 100% of dose rate at 1-ft, 20.8 mrem/h 

Plant Floor Low: 50% of Plant Floor High Supervisor: assume 10% of Plant Floor Low for time in contact with metal Clerical: assume no handling of U metal. 

Residual Period: Non-penetrating dose to skin 3.9E-06 mr/hour 

Assume no handling of U metal. Assume 10x the photon whole body dose rate 

Dose in this table is the geometric mean of a lognormal distribution

Job Category Year 

Operation 

Phase Hr/Yr 

Relevant 

Nuclide 

Skin: Hands 

& Forearms 

(mR/d) 

Skin – 

Other 

(mR/d) GSD TBD Reference or Researc

Plant Floor High 1951 Operations 40 U234 13 1 5 Generic Metal TBD - Rolling OpPlant Floor High 1952 Operations 8 U234 3 0 5 Generic Metal TBD - Machining Plant Floor Low 1951 Operations 20 U234 6 1 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Plant Floor Low 1952 Operations 4 U234 1 0 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Supervisor 1951 Operations 2 U234 1 0 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Supervisor 1952 Operations 0.4 U234 0 0 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Clerical 1951 Operations 0 U234 0 0 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High Clerical 1952 Operations 0 U234 0 0 5 Ratio'ed from Plant Floor High