ORAU Team

NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Project

Technical Basis Document for INEEL – Introduction

Document Number:

ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 

Effective Date: 05/07/2004

Revision No.: 00

Controlled Copy No.: ______

Page 1 of 7

Subject Expert: Norman Rohrig 

Document Owner:

Approval: Signature on File Date: 04/27/2004

Norman Rohrig, TBD Team Leader

Approval: Signature on File Date: 04/26/2004 Judson L. Kenoyer, Task 3 Manager

Concurrence: Signature on File Date: 04/26/2004 Richard E. Toohey, Project Director

Approval: Signature on File Date: 05/07/2004 James W. Neton, OCAS Health Science Administrator

Supersedes:

None

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Record of Issue/Revisions ...................................................................................................................2

Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................3

1.0 Introduction and Purpose ............................................................................................................4

1.1 Scope .........................................................................................................................................4

References ..........................................................................................................................................7
Effective Date: 05/07/2004 Revision No. 00 Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Page 2 of 7

RECORD OF ISSUE/REVISIONS

ISSUE 

AUTHORIZATION 

DATE

EFFECTIVE 

DATE

REV. 

NO. DESCRIPTION

Draft 03/09/2004 00-A New draft document for INEEL Introduction. 

Initiated by Norman Rohrig.

Draft 04/13/2004 00-B Incorporates responses to OCAS comments.

Initiated by Norman Rohrig.

05/07/2004 05/07/2004 00 First approved issue. Initiated by Norman Rohrig.
Effective Date: 05/07/2004 Revision No. 00 Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Page 3 of 7

ACRONYMS

CFA Central Facilities Area

EEOICPA Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000

INEEL Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

MDA minimum detectable activity 

NIOSH National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

ORAU Oak Ridge Associated Universities

TAN Test Area North

TBD Technical Basis Document 

U.S.C. United States Code
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1.0

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 

provides for compensation of workers (or their survivors) who have developed selected types of 

cancer if radiation is judged more likely than not to have caused the cancer. The Act requires 

determination of radiological doses from ionizing radiation received by workers in the U.S. Department 

of Energy and its predecessor agencies (the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the Energy 

Research and Development Agency). 

INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE

This Site Profile documents historical practices at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental 

Laboratory (INEEL) site and can be used to evaluate both internal and external dosimetry data for 

unmonitored and monitored workers and serve as a supplement to individual monitoring data. This 

document provides a site profile of the INEEL that contains technical basis information to be used to 

evaluate the total occupational radiation dose for EEOICPA claimants. 

Technical Basis Documents (TBDs) and Site Profile Documents are general working documents that 

provide guidance concerning the preparation of dose reconstructions at particular sites or categories 

of sites. They will be revised in the event additional relevant information is obtained about the 

affected site(s). These documents may be used to assist NIOSH in the completion of the individual 

work required for each dose reconstruction.

In this document the word facility is used as a general term for an area, building, or group of buildings 

that served a specific purpose at a site. It does not necessarily mean an “atomic weapons employer 

facility” or a “Department of Energy facility” as defined in the EEOICPA (42 U.S.C. 7384l (5) and (12)). 

This Site Profile provides supporting technical data to evaluate the total INEEL occupational radiation 

dose that may reasonably be associated with the worker’s radiation exposure. This dose results from 

exposure to external and internal radiation sources in INEEL facilities, to INEEL occupationally 

required diagnostic X-ray examinations, and to onsite environmental releases. The discussions 

include doses that could have occurred while the worker was not monitored or that could have been 

missed. Over the years new and more reliable scientific methods and protection measures have been 

developed. The methods needed to account for these changes are identified in this document. 

The doses are evaluated using the NIOSH Interactive RadioEpidemiological Program and the 

Integrated Modules for Bioassay Analysis computer program. Information on measurement 

uncertainties is an integral component of the NIOSH approach. This document describes the 

uncertainty evaluation for INEEL exposure and dose records.

1.1 SCOPE

The Site Profile comprises six major TBDs: this Introduction, Site Description, Occupational Medical 

Dose, Occupational Environmental Dose, Occupational Internal Dose, and Occupational External 

Dosimetry. 

Site Description

The Site Description TBD (ORAU 2003) briefly describes the facilities and processes at INEEL since 

the early 1950s. The INEEL site, about 50 miles west of Idaho Falls in the Arco desert, covers about 

890 square miles. Many additional offices and a few laboratories have been located in Idaho Falls. 

Previous names for the INEEL site were the National Reactor Testing Station and the Idaho National 

Engineering Laboratory. 
Effective Date: 05/07/2004 Revision No. 00 Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Page 5 of 7

The Central Facilities Area (CFA) was a Navy gunnery testing facility and now provides support 

facilities, central services, and some laboratories. Radioactive wastes from the site and from the 

Rocky Flats Environmental Testing Station are handled and stored at the Radioactive Waste 

Management Complex. Argonne National Laboratory-West developed and operated reactors at two 

locations south of CFA and at the east edge of the site. High-enrichment uranium spent fuel was 

reprocessed at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, and the resultant high-level waste was 

processed there. The Test Reactor Area supported three large research reactors, several smaller 

reactors, and several laboratories. Test Area North (TAN) was home to the Aircraft Nuclear 

Propulsion Program. The Loss of Fluid Test program was later conducted there. Armor for the U.S. 

Army is constructed at the Specific Manufacturing Capability facility at TAN. Reactor safety tests 

were conducted at the Special Power Excursion Reactor Test facilities. The Army Reactor Area was 

used to test various reactors and was the site of an accident at Stationary Low-Power Reactor No. 1.

The site description TBD provides information about the facilities and identifies unusual events that 

took place at the INEEL facilities.

Occupational Medical Dose

The Occupational Medical Dose TBD (ORAU 2004a) provides information about the dose that 

individual workers received from X-rays that were required as a condition of employment. These 

X-rays included pre-employment and chest X-rays during periodic physical exams. The frequency of 

required X-rays varied over time and as a function of the worker’s age. Both the X-ray equipment and 

the techniques used for taking X-rays have changed over the years covered by this TBD. These 

factors have been taken into account in determining the dose that a worker would have received from 

the X-ray. When there was a doubt about the technique used, claimant-favorable assumptions have 

been made to ensure that the dose has not been underestimated. Important parameters include the 

tube current and voltage, exposure time, source to skin distance, and the view (posterior-anterior or 

lateral). The doses to other exposed organs from the chest X-ray have been calculated. The 

uncertainty on the calculated dose takes into account the uncertainty associated with each of the 

parameters mentioned above. Tables list the doses received by the various organs in the body for 

convenient reference by the dose reconstructors.

Occupational Environmental Dose

The Occupational Environmental Dose TBD (ORAU 2004b) is the maximum dose to the whole body 

and organs that workers could have received when working outside the buildings at a given site at the 

INEEL from inhalation of radioactive materials in the atmosphere, from direct radiation from effluent 

plumes, and from direct exposure to radionuclides that may have become incorporated into the soil.

The radionuclide concentrations at INEEL site areas are based principally on measurements of stack 

effluents coupled with ground-level maximum annual average air concentrations from the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Of the 56 radionuclides assigned to the annual effluent list, 

9 radionuclides (144Ce, 131I, 147Pm, 238Pu, 239/240Pu, 106Ru, 89Sr, 90Sr, and 91Y) have been demonstrated 

to contribute about 95% of the total internal dose by a screening process using dose conversion 

factors from the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Annual intakes of these 

radionuclides were calculated with standard breathing rates and exposure times. 

Annual external whole body dose to workers from ambient radiation and from submersion in the 

annual radioactive material concentration is provided by the measurement of direct gamma values at 

the INEEL facility fence.
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Occupational Internal Dose

The Occupational Internal Dose TBD (ORAU 2004c) discusses the internal dosimetry program at 

INEEL.

This TBD contains a comprehensive default table to guide internal dose reconstruction in cases with 

minimal data. In addition, the TBD discusses the in vitro minimum detectable activities (MDAs), the 

analytical methods, and the reporting protocols for the radionuclides at INEEL. As expected, these 

parameters varied somewhat over the years for each of the radionuclides evaluated, although the 

capabilities were relatively consistent through the history of the site. The primary radionuclides of 

concern are those associated with spent high-enriched fuels: Mixed fission products (from a variety of 

reactor types), mixed activation products, plutonium (with a predominance of 238Pu), americium, and 

uranium (both high-enriched and depleted). This TBD discusses the in vivo MDAs, the analytical 

methods, and the reporting protocols for the X- and gamma-ray emitting radionuclides.

This TBD presents information for workers with no confirmed intakes, but who could have been 

exposed in the early days, in circumstances in which monitoring programs were not required, or for 

monitored readings below the detection limits. The document discusses methods for evaluating 

potential doses that fall in this category and provides additional data for the evaluation of the worst 

case scenario and for unmonitored workers.

Occupational External Dosimetry

The Occupational External Dosimetry TBD (ORAU 2004d) discusses the program for measuring skin 

and whole body doses to the workers. This document describes the dose reconstruction parameters, 

practices and policies, and dosimeter types and technology for measuring the dose from the different 

types of radiation. Discussion includes evaluation of doses measured from exposure to beta, gamma, 

and neutron radiation. Tables provide test results for various dosimeters exposed to different 

exposure geometries, radiation types, and energies. Sources of bias, workplace radiation field 

characteristics, responses of the different beta/gamma and neutron dosimeters in the workplace 

fields, and the adjustments to the recorded dose measured by these dosimeters during specific years 

are discussed in detail.

Missed dose is discussed as a function of dosimeter type, year, and energy range. In addition, the 

document describes the use of the external dosimetry technical basis parameters to facilitate the 

efforts of the dose reconstructors.
Effective Date: 05/07/2004 Revision No. 00 Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Page 7 of 7

REFERENCES

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associate Universities), 2003, Technical Basis Document for the Idaho National 

Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) – Site Profile, ORAUT-TKBS-0007-2, 

Revision 0, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associate Universities), 2004a, Technical Basis Document for the Idaho National 

Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) – Occupational Medical Dose, 

ORAUT-TKBS-0007-3, Revision 0, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associate Universities), 2004b, Technical Basis Document for the Idaho National 

Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) – Occupational Environmental Dose, 

ORAUT-TKBS-0007-4, Revision 0, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associate Universities), 2004c, Technical Basis Document for the Idaho National 

Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) – Occupational Internal Dose, 

ORAUT-TKBS-0007-5, Revision 0, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associate Universities), 2004d, Technical Basis Document for the Idaho National 

Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) – Occupational External Dosimetry, 

ORAUT-TKBS-0007-6, Revision 0, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.