Clarksville Modification Cent

Ft. Campbell

Special Exposure Cohort

Petition Evaluation Report

Stuart L. Hinnefeld

Director

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Division of Compensation Analysis and Support

June 2012

Santa Fe, NM
Petition Overview

 NIOSH determined it was not feasible to

complete the dose reconstruction for an ex

Clarksville Modification Center claim

 On May 23, 2012, claimant notified and

provided with a copy of Special Exposure C

(SEC) Petition Form A

 May 24, 2012: Petition (83.14) submitted t

NIOSH

 May 31, 2012: NIOSH Evaluation Report iss
Background

 EEOICPA covered from 1949‐1967 (DOE)

 Part of Ft. Campbell, occupying about 3.2 s

miles of the base

 Located ~50 miles NW of Nashville on TN‐K

border

 Constructed by AEC as a nuclear weapons

storage area

 Jointly operated by AEC, Sandia Corp., and

various branches of the military
Operations

 Site operational in August 1949 Nuclear capsule storage in underground vault

structures (A Structures)

 Weapons assembly, modification, and disasse

(B and C structures, gravel gertie)

 Activity checking of fissile material, replacing 

initiators

 AEC transferred operations to Pantex in 1965, 

some storage of classified materials continued 

~1967

 Workforce—ranged from 118 in 1960 to a max

of 230 in 1964
Clarksville Modification Cent

B structure 

C structure 

A structure 
Sources of Available Informat

 ORAU Team Site Profiles and Technical

Information Bulletins (TIBs) and Procedure

 NIOSH Site Research Database

 Existing claimant files Information from Pantex Plant SEC evaluat

 Worker interviews (4) as well as informatio

from claimant telephone interview files (CA

 Data captures
Data Capture Efforts

 DOE Opennet (OSTI data base)

 Standard data base search (DDRS, NNSA, CEDR 

 Internet search

 Nuclear Regulatory Commission (ADAMS)

 Hanford/PNNL DOE Legacy Management State of Tennessee

 Various DOE locations, esp. Pantex

 Libraries (Clarksville county, Eastern KY Univer
NOSH/OCAS Claims Tracking Sy

(information as of May 21, 2012)

 Clarksville claims submitted to NIOSH 

 Claims that meet the recommended class years  Dose reconstructions completed for claims 

that meet the class definition

 Claims containing some internal dosimetry 

 Claims containing some external dosimetry 
Potential Radiation Exposure

 Internal

• Airborne uranium oxides (HEU and DU)

• Tritium gases• Radon• Plutonium• Cs‐137

 External

• Photon/beta and neutron exposures fro

— Uranium

— Plutonium— Polonium initiators— Cs‐137 from weapons components

— Ir‐192 and Co‐60 radiography sources
Personal Monitoring Data

 Internal monitoring data

• No indication that a routine bioassay monitor

program existed

• 5 urinalysis samples for DU for single worker (s

incident )

 External monitoring data

• 1949‐1960: dosimetry provided by Sandia (ann

reports available)

• NTA film added in 1958 (results not available)

• 1960‐1965: various dosimetry records and wee

summary data available (only some workers w

monitored)
Work Place and Source Term D

 Workplace monitoring

• Uranium contamination surveys during 1964 a

• Some indication that tritium air monitoring an

swipes took place, records have not been locat

• No records of routine radon air monitoring

 Source‐term monitoring

• Radioactive materials consisted of tritium, HEU

plutonium, radon, Po‐210, radiography source

• Insufficient information is available on the sou

terms of these materials
Feasibility of Dose Reconstruct

 Available internal monitoring records, proc

descriptions, and source‐term data are

inadequate to complete dose reconstructio

with sufficient accuracy for the evaluated c

of employees during the period from Augu

1949 through December 31, 1967

 The findings from this SEC evaluation are

consistent with the SEC determinations for

facilities with similar radiological exposure

• Pantex Plant

• Medina Modification Center
Feasibility of Dose Reconstructio

 External doses can be reconstructed using

available external monitoring data and ava

dose reconstruction methods:

• Available film badge data likely from highest e

worker group

• Neutron doses are assigned using neutron‐to‐p

ratios of similar operations

• Doses from X‐ray examinations are assigned b

available methodology
Feasibility Summary

Feasibility Findings for Clarksville Modification Cente

Source of Exposure 

Dose 

Reconstruction 

Feasible 

Dose Recon

NOT Fea

Internal 

X 

External 

- Beta-Gamma X 

- Neutron X - Occupational 

Medical X-ray 

X 
Health Endangerment

 The evidence reviewed in this evaluation

indicates that some workers in the class m

have accumulated chronic radiation expos

through intakes of radionuclides and direc

exposure to radioactive materials.

 Consequently, NIOSH is specifying that hea

may have been endangered for those work

covered by this evaluation who were empl

for a number of work days aggregating at l

250 work days within the parameters

established for this class or in combination 

work days within the parameters establish

one or more other classes of employees in 

SEC .
Proposed Class

All employees of the Department of Energy, 

predecessor agencies, and DOE contractors 

subcontractors who worked at the Clarksvil

Modification Center, Ft. Campbell in ClarksvTennessee during the period from August 1, 

through December 31, 1967, for a number o

days aggregating at least 250 work days, occ

either solely under this employment or incombination with work days within the para

established for one or more other classes of

employees in the Special Exposure Cohort.
Recommendation

 For the period from January 1, 1949 throug

December 31, 1967, NIOSH finds that radia

dose estimates cannot be reconstructed focompensation purposes

Class Feasibility Health Endang

January 1, 1949

–

December 31, 1967 No Yes