Division of Compensation Analysis and 

Support 

Program Evaluation Report

Document Number: DCAS-PER-049 

Effective Date: 8/5/2016 

Revision No. 0

Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Page 1 of 2

Author: Signature on file Date: 8/5/2016 

 Dave Allen, HP Team Leader

Approval: Signature on file Date: 8/5/2016 

J.W. Neton, Associate Director for Science

Supersedes: None

RECORD OF ISSUE/REVISIONS 

ISSUE EFFECTIVE REV. NO. DESCRIPTION

AUTHORIZATION DATE

DATE

New document to determine the effect of 

revision to the Paducah Site TBD on 

previously completed claims. 

8/5/2016 8/5/2016 0

 

1.0 Description 

A six section Technical Basis Document (TBD) for the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant 

(ORAUT-TKBS-0019) is used for conducting dose reconstructions. Since their original 

issuance, each section of the TBD has been revised on several occasions with the last 

revision taking place on 8/24/2012. This PER considers the changes that were made 

between the current version and all previous versions of the TBD. 

 

2.0 Issue Evaluation 

The revisions to the Paducah TBD included several changes that would cause an increase 

in calculated doses. 

Revision 3 of the medical x-ray section (Section 3) was issued on 8/23/2012. This 

revision included an increase in the default x-ray examination frequency for some 

employees. For most dose reconstructions, however, the actual medical records are 

available and no default frequency is used. Because the increased frequency would result 

in an increased dose in some dose reconstructions, it was necessary to examine each case 

individually to determine if this change is applicable.

The Paducah TBD environmental section (Section 4) was revised to increase the external 

doses that is assigned for some years. 

The Paducah TBD external section (Section 6) was last revised on 8/24/2012. Increases 

in assigned dose from neutrons and from Tc-99 were included. 
Division of Compensation Analysis and 

Support

Program Evaluation Plan

Document Number: DCAS-PER-049

Effective Date: 8/5/2016 Revision No. 0 Page 2 of 2

None of the increases in dose affected all claims, however, most of the changes require a 

review of the individual claim to determine if it is affected. 

3.0 Plan for Resolution or Corrective Action 

A search of the claims tracking database, as well as a text search of all dose 

reconstructions, was conducted to develop a list of claims with any mention of the word 

Paducah. This search identified 2099 claims. 

From that list, those identified as having a Probability of Causation (POC) greater than 

50% were removed, as well as those identified as meeting the conditions for 

compensation under the SEC. Also, one claim was returned by DOL prior to evaluating 

the claim so it was removed from further consideration. This left 1604 claims. 

At that point, the most recent version of a dose reconstruction for each claim was 

reviewed manually to determine if any of the changes to the TBDs affected the particular 

claim. This step removed 634 claims from further evaluation leaving 970 claims. Dose 

for the 970 claims was to be recalculated using the current TBD and any other applicable 

procedures. During this step, 51 of the claims were returned by DOL to NIOSH for a 

new Dose Reconstruction for other reasons. These 51 claims were removed from further 

evaluation. 

Doses for the remaining 919 claims were recalculated using the current revisions of the 

TBD, as well as any other applicable documents. The resulting POC for 899 of the 

claims was below 45%. Eleven of the claims resulted in a POC greater than 52%. The 

remaining eight claims had a POC between 45% and 52%. For those claims, IREP was 

run 30 times at 10,000 iterations per NIOSH procedures. The resulting POC was less than 

50% for six of the claims and greater than 50% for the remaining two. 

NIOSH will provide the Department of Labor with the list of all the claims evaluated under 

this PER. Further, NIOSH will request that DOL return the thirteen claims that would now 

result in a POC greater than 50%.