Draft 

ADVISORY BOARD ON 

RADIATION AND WORKER HEALTH

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

 SC&A’S EVALUATION OF ORAUT-OTIB-0088, REVISION 00, 

“EXTERNAL DOSE RECONSTRUCTION” 

Contract No. 211-2014-58081 

SCA-TR-2019-PR001, Revision 0 

Prepared by

Ron Buchanan, PhD, CHP 

SC&A, Inc. 

2200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 300 

Arlington, VA 22201-3324 

Saliant, Inc.

5579 Catholic Church Road 

Jefferson, Maryland 21755 

January 8, 2019 

DISCLAIMER

This is a working document provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) technical 

support contractor, SC&A for use in discussions with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

Health (NIOSH) and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH), including its 

Working Groups or Subcommittees. Documents produced by SC&A, such as memorandum, white paper, 

draft or working documents are not final NIOSH or ABRWH products or positions, unless specifically 

marked as such. This document prepared by SC&A represents its preliminary evaluation on technical 

issues.

NOTICE: This document has been reviewed to identify and redact any information that is protected by 

the Privacy Act 5 U.S.C. § 552a and has been cleared for distribution. 
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SC&A, INC.: Technical Support for the Advisory Board on Radiation and 

Worker Health Review of NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Program

DOCUMENT TITLE: SC&A’s Evaluation Of ORAUT-OTIB-0088, Revision 00, 

“External Dose Reconstruction”

DOCUMENT NUMBER/

DESCRIPTION:

SCA-TR-2019-PR001 

REVISION NO.: 0 (Draft)

SUPERSEDES: N/A

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 8, 2019

TASK MANAGER Kathy Behling [signature on file]

PROJECT MANAGER: John Stiver, MS, CHP [signature on file]

DOCUMENT 

REVIEWER(S):

Kathy Behling [signature on file]

John Stiver, MS, CHP [signature on file]

Record of Revisions

Revision 

Number

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Date

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0 (Draft) 1/8/2019 Initial issue
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abbreviations and Acronyms ......................................................................................................... 4

1.0 Introduction and Background ................................................................................................. 5

2.0 Overview of ORAUT-OTIB-0088 .......................................................................................... 5

3.0 SC&A’s Evaluation of ORAUT-OTIB-0088 ......................................................................... 6

3.1 Evaluation of Approach Used in ORAUT-OTIB-0088 .................................................. 6

3.2 Evaluation of Methods Used in ORAUT-OTIB-0088 .................................................... 6

Observation 1. Need to Retain Information Contained in ORAUT-PROC-0060 .................. 6

3.3 Evaluation of Documentation in ORAUT-OTIB-0088 .................................................. 7

Observation 2. Apparent Error in Example Calculations ....................................................... 7

4.0 Summary and Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 7

5.0 References ............................................................................................................................... 8
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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

ABRWH Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health 

DOE U.S. Department of Energy 

DR dose reconstruction 

GSD geometric standard deviation 

keV kiloelectron volt 

LOD limit of detection

NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

ORAUT Oak Ridge Associated Universities Team

OTIB ORAUT technical information bulletin
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1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

As a result of the Subcommittee for Procedure Reviews meeting of October 31, 2018, SC&A 

was tasked with a technical review of ORAUT-OTIB-0088, Revision 00, External Dose 

Reconstruction, issued September 25, 2018 (NIOSH 2018, referred to as “OTIB-0088”).

OTIB-0088 was initiated to convert ORAUT-PROC-0006, Revision 01, External Dose 

Reconstruction, issued June 5, 2006 (NIOSH 2006a), to a technical information bulletin. It

included information about assignment of onsite ambient dose to facilitate cancellation of 

ORAUT-PROC-0060, Revision 01, Occupational Onsite Ambient Dose Reconstruction for DOE 

Sites, issued June 28, 2006 (NIOSH 2006b). 

This report presents SC&A’s evaluation of the technical approach, methods used, and 

documentation in OTIB-0088 to replace ORAUT-PROC-0006 and facilitate cancellation of 

ORAUT-PROC-0060. 

2.0 OVERVIEW OF ORAUT-OTIB-0088

The following is a brief outline of OTIB-0088.

• General Approach – OTIB-0088 methodology is based primarily on information in 

OCAS-IG-001, Revision 3, External Dose Reconstruction Implementation Guideline, 

issued November 21, 2007 (NIOSH 2007).

• Initial Evaluation of a Claim - Figure 2-1, page 7, of OTIB-0088 provides a condensed,

overall view of the method recommended for sorting and processing a claim as an 

overestimate, best estimate, or underestimate.

• Hierarchy of Data – Table 2-1, page 8, of OTIB-0088 summarizes the order of 

importance of data sources used for dose reconstruction (DR).

• Level of Worker Monitoring – OTIB-0088, pages 8–10, recommends DR methods to be 

used for three levels of worker monitoring:

1. Worker was monitored adequately.

2. Worker was not monitored.

3. Worker monitored inadequately.

• Types of External Radiation – OTIB-0088, Section 2.2, pages 11– 15, summarizes the 

types of potential radiation exposures and recommended energy intervals.

– Photons – The total photon dose consists of measured, missed, occupational medical 

x-rays, and environmental dose. Photons can be <30 kiloelectron volts (keV), 30–

250 keV, or >250 keV in energy. Photon dose is assigned as an acute exposure.

– Neutrons – The total neutron dose consists of measured and missed dose. Early 

neutron dosimetry is not always available or reliable; therefore, neutron-to-photon

ratios must sometimes be used. Table 2-2, page 14, of OTIB-0088 provides the 
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recommended neutron energy intervals and weighting factors. Neutron dose is 

assigned as a chronic exposure.

– Betas – The total beta dose consists of measured, missed, and skin contamination 

dose and is assigned as >15 keV electrons. Electron dose is assigned as an acute 

exposure. 

• Attachment A – This attachment of OTIB-0088 provides an overview, with example 

calculations, of the recommended methods to use to assess the potential number of 

missed zeros using: 

– Overestimate approach

– Underestimate approach 

– Best-estimate approach

• Attachment B – This attachment of OTIB-0088 provides a general outline of the sources 

of onsite ambient dose. It recommends assigning ambient external dose as a chronic 

exposure of 30–250 keV photons. The attachment offers some guidance concerning bestestimate methods for ambient dose assignment. It does not provide any site-specific 

information or data tables concerning ambient external dose, as these data are contained 

in site-specific technical basis documents. 

3.0 SC&A’S EVALUATION OF ORAUT-OTIB-0088 

The following sections summarize SC&A’s evaluation of the technical approach, methods used, 

and documentation in OTIB-0088. 

3.1 EVALUATION OF APPROACH USED IN ORAUT-OTIB-0088 

SC&A evaluated the approach used in OTIB-0088 to assign external dose and found it 

reasonable and useful. Figure 2-1 of OTIB-0088 presents a useful guideline for the dose 

reconstructor that will provide consistency in DR. The use of OCAS-IG-001 methodology 

provides for continuity in the DR process. 

3.2 EVALUATION OF METHODS USED IN ORAUT-OTIB-0088 

SC&A evaluated the methods used in OTIB-0088 to assign external dose. SC&A concurs with 

the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH’s) methods, equations, and 

recommendations in OTIB-0088. However, SC&A did have one observation concerning the lack 

of information in OTIB-0088, if it is used to facilitate cancellation of ORAUT-PROC-0060. 

Observation 1. Need to Retain Information Contained in ORAUT-PROC-0060 

Attachments A, B, and C of ORAUT-PROC-0060 are very informative sections of the procedure 

that provide the dose reconstructor with a quick reference for the assignment of site-specific 

onsite ambient dose. These attachments also help ensure the DR process is conducted in a 

consistent manner. The ORAUT-PROC-0060 attachments are:
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• Attachment A – External Onsite Ambient Dose Assignment for Monitored Site 

Employees

• Attachment B – Maximizing Dose Summary

• Attachment C – Methods for Assigning Site-Specific Best Estimates of External Onsite 

Ambient Doses

Since OTIB-0088 lacks the valuable information provided in the ORAUT-PROC-0060 

attachments, the time to complete DRs would likely increase because the dose reconstructor 

would need to locate specific information now in the attachments, such as the current site 

environmental profile, personnel and control badge handling and storage policies, ambient dose 

levels, etc. In addition, this could result in inconsistences in DRs among different claims. 

SC&A strongly suggests reconsideration of the cancellation of ORAUT-PROC-0060 without an 

equivalent replacement document.

3.3 EVALUATION OF DOCUMENTATION IN ORAUT-OTIB-0088

SC&A evaluated the documentation in OTIB-0088 for assigning external dose and found one 

item that appears to be in error. 

Observation 2. Apparent Error in Example Calculations

Attachment A, page 20, states three times throughout the text that the 95th percentile missed 

dose of a lognormal distribution is the number of zeros multiplied by the limit of detection 

(LOD). However, on page 21, the example calculation in the fifth bullet uses the value LOD/2 

(i.e., 0.040/2) for deriving the 95th percentile missed dose, and the resulting geometric standard 

deviation (GSD): 

• 95th percentile dose is 48 × 0.040/2 = 0.960 rem 

with a calculated GSD of 1.162. 

According to the text on page 20 of OTIB-0088, this should read: “95th percentile dose is 

48 × 0.040 = 1.920 rem,” with a calculated GSD of 1.771. 

4.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 

Approach – SC&A found the approach to external DR in OTIB-0088 to be reasonable and 

useful. 

Methods – SC&A analyzed the methods and recommendations in OTIB-0088 and found them to 

be correct and applicable. However, SC&A does not find that OTIB-0088 provides adequate 

information that allows for the cancellation of ORAUT-PROC-0060 and had the following 

observation, as described in Section 3.2 of this report: 

• Observation 1. Need to Retain Information Contained in ORAUT-PROC-0060 
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Documentation – SC&A evaluated NIOSH’s documentation in OTIB-0088 for assigning 

external dose and found one item that appears to be in error. SC&A had the following 

observation, which is described in Section 3.3 of this report:

• Observation 2. Apparent Error in Example Calculations

5.0 REFERENCES

NIOSH 2006a. External Dose Reconstruction, ORAUT-PROC-0006, Revision 01, National 

Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH. June 5, 2006.

NIOSH 2006b. Occupational Onsite Ambient Dose Reconstruction for DOE Sites, ORAUTPROC-0060, Revision 01, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH. 

June 28, 2006.

NIOSH 2007. External Dose Reconstruction Implementation Guideline, OCAS-IG-001, 

Revision 3, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH. 

November 21, 2007.

NIOSH 2018. External Dose Reconstruction, ORAUT-OTIB-0088, Revision 00, National 

Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH. September 25, 2018.