ORAU TEAM

Dose Reconstruction

Project for NIOSH

Oak Ridge Associated Universities I Dade Moeller & Associates I MJW Corporation

Page 1 of 10

Document Title:

Idaho National Laboratory – Introduction

Document Number: ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 

Revision: 02

Effective Date: 04/26/2007

Type of Document: TBD

Supersedes: Revision 01

Subject Expert(s): Jo Ann M. Jenkins

Site Expert(s): Norman D. Rohrig

Approval: Signature on File Approval Date: 04/11/2007

Jo Ann M. Jenkins, Document Owner

Concurrence: Richard E. Merrill Signature on File for Concurrence Date: 04/11/2007

John M. Byrne, Task 3 Manager

Concurrence: Signature on File Concurrence Date: 04/11/2007

Edward F. Maher, Task 5 Manager

Concurrence: Signature on File Concurrence Date: 04/17/2007

Kate Kimpan, Project Director

Approval: Brant A. Ulsh Signature on File for Approval Date: 04/26/2007

James W. Neton, Associate Director for 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. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Revision No. 02 Effective Date: 04/26/2007 Page 2 of 10

PUBLICATION RECORD

EFFECTIVE 

DATE

REVISION

NUMBER DESCRIPTION

05/07/2004 00 New document for the INEEL Introduction. Incorporates responses 

to OCAS comments. First approved issue. Initiated by Norman D. 

Rohrig.

12/13/2006 01 Approved revision as a result of biennial review. Revised language 

in the Purpose section as required by NIOSH. Attribution and 

Annotation section added. Constitutes a total rewrite of document. 

Incorporates internal, NIOSH, and DOL formal review comments. 

This revision results in no change to the assigned dose and no PER 

is required. Training required: As determined by the Task Manager. 

Initiated by Norman D. Rohrig.

04/26/2007 02 Approved Revision 02 revised to change document owner and to 

better identify references in the text. This revision results in no 

change to the assigned dose and no PER is required. Training 

required: As determined by the Task Manager. Initiated by Jo Ann 

M. Jenkins.
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Revision No. 02 Effective Date: 04/26/2007 Page 3 of 10

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION TITLE

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

PAGE

1.1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................5

1.1.1 Purpose..........................................................................................................................6

 1.1.2 Scope.............................................................................................................................6

1.2 Attributions and Annotations ....................................................................................................9

References ........................................................................................................................................10
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Revision No. 02 Effective Date: 04/26/2007 Page 4 of 10

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

CFA Central Facilities Area

DOE U.S. Department of Energy

EEOICPA Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000

IMBA Integrated Modules for Bioassay Analysis (computer program)

INL Idaho National Laboratory

IREP Interactive RadioEpidemiological Program

MDA minimum detectable activity

mi mile

NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

POC probability of causation

TAN Test Area North

TBD technical basis document

U.S.C. United States Code

§ Section or Sections
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Revision No. 02 Effective Date: 04/26/2007 Page 5 of 10

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Technical basis documents and site profile documents are not official determinations made by the 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) but are rather general working 

documents that provide historic background information and guidance to assist in the preparation of 

dose reconstructions for 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 staff 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 connote an “atomic weapons 

employer facility” or a “Department of Energy [DOE] facility” as defined in the Energy Employees 

Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act [EEOICPA; 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(5) and (12)]. 

EEOICPA defines a facility as “any building, structure, or premise, including the grounds upon which 

such building, structure, or premise is located ... in which operations are, or have been, conducted by, 

or on behalf of, the Department of Energy (except for buildings, structures, premises, grounds, or 

operations ... pertaining to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program)” [42 U.S.C. § 7384l(12)]. 

Accordingly, except for the exclusion for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program noted above, any 

facility that performs or performed DOE operations of any nature whatsoever is a DOE facility 

encompassed by EEOICPA.

For employees of DOE or its contractors with cancer, the DOE facility definition only determines 

eligibility for a dose reconstruction, which is a prerequisite to a compensation decision (except for 

members of the Special Exposure Cohort). The compensation decision for cancer claimants is based 

on a section of the statute entitled “Exposure in the Performance of Duty.” That provision [42 U.S.C. § 

7384n(b)] says that an individual with cancer “shall be determined to have sustained that cancer in the 

performance of duty for purposes of the compensation program if, and only if, the cancer ... was at 

least as likely as not related to employment at the facility [where the employee worked], as 

determined in accordance with the POC [probability of causation1

As noted above, the statute includes a definition of a DOE facility that excludes “buildings, structures, 

premises, grounds, or operations covered by Executive Order No. 12344, dated February 1, 1982 

(42 U.S.C. 7158 note), pertaining to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program” [42 U.S.C. § 7384l(12)]. 

While this definition contains an exclusion with respect to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, the 

section of EEOICPA that deals with the compensation decision for covered employees with cancer 

[i.e., 42 U.S.C. § 7384n(b), entitled “Exposure in the Performance of Duty”] does not contain such an 

exclusion. Therefore, the statute requires NIOSH to include all occupationally derived radiation 

exposures at covered facilities in its dose reconstructions for employees at DOE facilities, including 

radiation exposures related to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. As a result, all internal and 

external dosimetry monitoring results are considered valid for use in dose reconstruction. No efforts 

are made to determine the eligibility of any fraction of total measured exposure for inclusion in dose 

reconstruction. NIOSH, however, does not consider the following exposures to be occupationally 

derived:

] guidelines established under 

subsection (c) ...” [42 U.S.C. § 7384n(b)]. Neither the statute nor the probability of causation

guidelines (nor the dose reconstruction regulation) define “performance of duty” for DOE employees 

with a covered cancer or restrict the “duty” to nuclear weapons work.

• Radiation from naturally occurring radon present in conventional structures

• Radiation from diagnostic X-rays received in the treatment of work-related injuries

 

1 The U.S. Department of Labor is ultimately responsible under the EEOICPA for determining the POC. 
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Revision No. 02 Effective Date: 04/26/2007 Page 6 of 10

This site profile documents historical practices at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site and can be 

used to evaluate internal and external dosimetry data for unmonitored and monitored workers and can 

serve as a supplement to individual monitoring data. This document provides a site profile of the INL

that contains technical basis information to be used to evaluate the total occupational radiation dose 

for EEOICPA claimants.

This site profile can be a tool when performing dose reconstructions for INL workers. The Integrated 

Modules for BioAssay Analysis (IMBA) computer code is a tool useful for internal dose calculations. 

Information on measurement uncertainties is an integral component of the NIOSH approach. This 

document describes how to evaluate uncertainty associated with INL exposure and dosimetry 

records.

1.1.1

The purpose of this Introduction is to provide a summary of the contents of the five technical basis 

documents (TBDs) that, along with this Introduction, constitute the Idaho National Laboratory Site 

Profile.

Purpose

1.1.2 

The site profile consists of six technical basis documents (TBDs): (1) this Introduction, (2) Site 

Description, (3) Occupational Medical Dose, (4) Occupational Environmental Dose, (5) Occupational 

Internal Dose, and (6) Occupational External Dosimetry. 

Scope

Site Description

The Site Description TBD (ORAUT 2005) briefly describes the facilities and processes at INL since 

the early 1950s. The INL site, located about 50 mi west of Idaho Falls in the Arco desert, covers 

about 890 mi2

. Many additional offices and a few laboratories are in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Previous 

names for the INL site were the National Reactor Testing Station (1949-1974), the Idaho National 

Engineering Laboratory (1974-1997), and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental 

Laboratory (1997-2005). 

The Central Facilities Area (CFA), formerly a Navy gunnery testing facility, now provides support 

facilities, central services, and 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: 

(1) south of CFA and (2) 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 reactors and was the site of an accident at Stationary Low-Power Reactor No. 1 (Horan & 

Gammill 1963). 

The Site Description TBD provides information about the facilities and identifies unusual events that 

took place at INL facilities (ORAUT 2005).
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Revision No. 02 Effective Date: 04/26/2007 Page 7 of 10

Occupational Medical Dose

The Occupational Medical Dose TBD (ORAUT 2007) provides information about the dose that 

individual workers received from X-rays that were required as a condition of employment. These Xrays included chest X-rays taken during preemployment and 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 chest X-rays covered by this TBD have changed over 

the years. 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, assumptions that 

are favorable to claimants were 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 view (posterior-anterior or lateral). Doses to other exposed organs from the chest X-ray have 

been calculated. The uncertainty associated with the calculated dose takes into account the 

uncertainty associated with each of the parameters mentioned above. Tables list doses received by 

organs in the body for convenient reference by dose reconstructors (ORAUT 2007).

Occupational Environmental Dose

The Occupational Environmental Dose TBD (ORAUT 2004) provides the maximum dose to the whole 

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

location at INL from inhalation of radioactive materials in the atmosphere, from direct radiation from 

effluent plumes, and from direct exposure to radionuclides and radiation sources that might have 

become incorporated in the soil.

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

effluents coupled with ground-level maximum annual average air concentrations provided by the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Of the 56 radionuclides assigned to the annual 

effluent list, nine 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 (ORAUT 2004). 

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 INL facility fences (ORAUT 2004). 

Occupational Internal Dose

The Occupational Internal Dose TBD (ORAUT 2006a) discusses the internal dosimetry program at 

INL. 

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

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

methods, and reporting protocols for radionuclides at INL. 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 (highenriched and depleted) (ORAUT 2006a). This TBD discusses in vivo MDAs, analytical methods, and 

reporting protocols for X- and gamma-ray emitting radionuclides.

This TBD presents information for workers who could have been exposed in the early days, but had 

no confirmed intakes. This could have occurred under circumstances in which monitoring programs 
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Revision No. 02 Effective Date: 04/26/2007 Page 8 of 10

were not required or when the monitored readings were below 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 (ORAUT 2006a).

Occupational External Dosimetry

The Occupational External Dosimetry TBD (ORAUT 2006b) discusses the program for measuring skin 

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

practices, and policies, and dosimeter types and technologies for measuring doses from 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 beta/gamma and neutron dosimeters in workplace fields, and 

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 external dosimetry technical basis parameters to facilitate the efforts of 

dose reconstructors (ORAUT 2006b).
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Revision No. 02 Effective Date: 04/26/2007 Page 9 of 10

1.2 ATTRIBUTIONS AND ANNOTATIONS

All information requiring identification was addressed via references integrated into the reference 

section of this document.
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0007-1 Revision No. 02 Effective Date: 04/26/2007 Page 10 of 10

REFERENCES

Horan, J. R., and Gammill, W. P., 1963, The Health Physics Aspects of the SL-1 Accident, Health 

Physics, Vol. 9, pp 177-186. [SRDB Ref ID: 26108] 

ORAUT (Oak Ridge Associate Universities Team), 2005, Technical Basis Document for the Idaho 

National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) – Site Profile, ORAUT-TKBS0007-2, Rev. 02, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, July 29. [SRDB Ref ID: 19513] 

ORAUT (Oak Ridge Associate Universities Team), 2007, Idaho National Laboratory – (INL) – 

Occupational Medical Dose, ORAUT-KBS-0007-3, Rev. 01, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, January 

31.

ORAUT (Oak Ridge Associate Universities Team), 2004, Technical Basis Document for the Idaho 

National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) – Occupational Environmental 

Dose, ORAUT-TKBS-0007-4, Rev. 00, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, March 30. [SRDB Ref ID: 

19518] 

ORAUT (Oak Ridge Associate Universities Team), 2006a, Idaho National Engineering and 

Environmental Laboratory – Occupational Internal Dose, ORAUT-TKBS-0007-5, Rev. 01. PC1, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, June 5. 

ORAUT (Oak Ridge Associate Universities Team), 2006b, Idaho National Engineering and 

Environmental Laboratory – Occupational External Dosimetry, ORAUT-TKBS-0007-6, Rev. 01, 

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, October.