Draft White Paper 

SC&A REVIEW OF LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL 

LABORATORY SITE PROFILE MATRIX ISSUE #9 

Contract Number 200-2009-28555 

Prepared by 

Joseph Fitzgerald 

S. Cohen & Associates 

1608 Spring Hill Road, Suite 400 

Vienna, Virginia 22182 

Saliant, Inc. 

5579 Catholic Church Road 

Jefferson, Maryland 21755 

September 2012 

Disclaimer 

This document is made available in accordance with the unanimous desire of the Advisory Board on 

Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH) to maintain all possible openness in its deliberations. However, 

the ABRWH and its contractor, SC&A, caution the reader that at the time of its release, this report is predecisional and has not been reviewed by the Board for factual accuracy or applicability within the 

requirements of 42 CFR 82. This implies that once reviewed by the ABRWH, the Board’s position may 

differ from the report’s conclusions. Thus, the reader should be cautioned that this report is for 

information only and that premature interpretations regarding its conclusions are unwarranted.
Effective Date: 

September 5, 2012 

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NOTICE: This report has been reviewed for Privacy Act information and has been cleared for distribution. 

However, this report is pre-decisional and has not been reviewed by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

Health for factual accuracy or applicability within the requirements of 42 CFR 82.

Document No.: White Paper – 

SC&A Review of LBNL Issue #9 

Effective Date: 

 Draft – September 5, 2012 

S. COHEN & ASSOCIATES: 

Technical Support for the Advisory Board on 

Radiation & Worker Health Review of 

NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Program Revision No. 

0 (Draft) 

SC&A REVIEW OF LAWRENCE BERKELEY 

NATIONAL LABORATORY SITE PROFILE 

MATRIX ISSUE #9 

Page 2 of 5 

Task Manager: 

________________________ Date:____________ 

Joseph Fitzgerald 

Supersedes: 

N/A 

Project Manager: 

________________________ Date:____________ 

John Stiver, CHP 

Peer Reviewer(s): 

 John Stiver 

Record of Revisions 

Revision 

Number 

Effective 

Date Description of Revision 

0 (Draft) 09/05/2012 Initial issue 
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0 (Draft) 

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NOTICE: This report has been reviewed for Privacy Act information and has been cleared for distribution. 

However, this report is pre-decisional and has not been reviewed by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

Health for factual accuracy or applicability within the requirements of 42 CFR 82.

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 

ESE entrance skin exposure 

LBL Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory 

LBNL Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

ORAUT Oak Ridge Associated Universities Team 

PA posterior/anterior 

PFG photofluorography 

SC&A S. Cohen and Associates (SC&A, Inc.) 

TBD technical basis document 
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NOTICE: This report has been reviewed for Privacy Act information and has been cleared for distribution. 

However, this report is pre-decisional and has not been reviewed by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

Health for factual accuracy or applicability within the requirements of 42 CFR 82.

SC&A REVIEW OF LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY 

SITE PROFILE MATRIX ISSUE #9

SC&A FINDING: X-RAY EXPOSURES ARE UNCERTAIN 

Table 3-1 of ORAUT-TKBS-0049, Rev. 01 (ORAUT 2007) lists the entrance skin exposure 

(ESE) doses used for the posterior/anterior (PA) chest exam. It states that until 1975, all dose 

estimates are defaulted to those provided in ORAUT-OTIB-0006 (ORAUT 2005). There is no 

information identified as being available on x-ray equipment that was used prior to 1975. 

Depending on how one views this information, there is no indication that this default is claimant 

favorable for the years 1942 through 1975. NIOSH needs to better describe what measures were 

taken to determine what types of equipment were used. For example: 

 Where did workers get exams between the years 1942–1975? 

 Were medical records available and do they indicate if x-rays were taken? 

 Were workers sent to alternate locations for exams and were those records researched? 

 Did NIOSH research address the potential use of photofluorography (PFG) to screen 

workers up through 1960? (SC&A 2010) 

The technical basis document (TBD) should be expanded in its discussion of the medical dose to 

address the issues indicated in the above questions in order to be considered complete. 

REVIEW 

SC&A re-evaluated this issue based on the issuance of a revised Section 3 of Rev. 02 of the TBD 

(ORAUT 2010), which significantly expanded what was presented in Rev. 01. This expanded 

information included more history regarding the pre-1975 period (e.g., before 1964, workers 

obtained their physicals, including x-ray examinations, from their private physicians). While 

LBL medical records are clearly not available for these x-ray examinations, the “new” Table 3-1 

provides information regarding time frames, frequencies, scope of workforce, and type of chest 

projections (albeit, the author of this summary is listed as “unknown”). In addition to receiving 

their medical x-ray examinations offsite prior to 1964, workers subject to “inhalation exposure” 

received x-ray examinations at their physician’s discretion after 1991. NIOSH indicates that 

there is no evidence of PFG at the laboratory found in any documentation for LBNL. 

Tables 3-2, 3-3, and 3-4 (ORAUT 2010) providing detailed organ doses, skin dose guidance for 

various chest projections, and skin dose from various chest projections across all pertinent 

operating periods are a considerable expansion of dose reconstruction guidance from Rev. 01 

(ORAUT 2005) of the TBD, which only provided maximum organ doses for 14 in by 17 in PA 

chest radiography. 
Effective Date: 

September 5, 2012 

Revision No. 

0 (Draft) 

Document No.: White Paper – 

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 This report has been reviewed for Privacy Act information and has been cleared for distribution. 

However, this report is pre-decisional and has not been reviewed by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

Health for factual accuracy or applicability within the requirements of 42 CFR 82.

NOTICE:

CONCLUSION 

Based on the responsiveness of Rev. 02, Section 3 of the TBD (ORAUT 2010) to SC&A’s 

specific questions, and its comprehensiveness and expanded guidance for the dose reconstructor, 

SC&A recommends closure of this site profile issue by the Work Group. 

REFERENCES 

ORAUT 2005. Dose Reconstruction from Occupationally Related Diagnostic X-Ray 

Procedures, ORAUT-OTIB-0006, Rev. 03 PC-1. Oak Ridge Associated Universities Team, 

Cincinnati, Ohio. December 21, 2005. 

ORAUT 2007. Site Profile for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ORAUT-TKBS0049, Rev. 01, Oak Ridge Associated Universities Team, Cincinnati, Ohio. April 2, 2007. 

ORAUT 2010. Site Profile for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ORAUT-TKBS0049, Rev. 02, Oak Ridge Associated Universities Team, Cincinnati, Ohio. May 10, 2010. 

SC&A 2010. Review of the NIOSH Site Profile for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,

SCA-TR-SP2010-0002, Rev. 0. SC&A, Inc., Vienna, Virginia, and Saliant, Inc., Jefferson, 

Maryland. January 22, 2010.