U.S. Department of Health and Human Designation 

of Additional Members of the Special Exposure Cohort 

under the 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

Designating a Class of Employees from 

Sandia National Laboratories 

Albuquerque, New Mexico 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico [SEC 00188] 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I. Designation 

I, Alex M. Azar II, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), designate the class of 

employees defined in Section II of this report for addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC), 

as authorized under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 

2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. § 7384q. 

October 18, 2018 

Date 

[Signature on File] 

Alex M. Azar II, Secretary 

II. Employee Class Definition 

All employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and its contractors 

or subcontractors who worked in any area at the Sandia National Laboratories in 

Albuquerque, New Mexico, during the period from January 1, 1995, through December 

31, 1996, for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring either 

solely under this employment or in combination with work days within the parameters 

established for one or more other classes of employees included in the Special Exposure 

Cohort. 

III. Designation Criteria and Recommendations 

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, for the class defined in Section II of this report, the Secretary has 

determined, and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (Board) has recommended, 

that 

(1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose that the class 

received; and 

(2) there is a reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have endangered the 

health of members of the class. 

The SEC final rule states in 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1) that it is feasible in two situations to estimate 

the radiation dose that the class received with sufficient accuracy. First, the rule states that 

radiation doses may be estimated with sufficient accuracy if NIOSH has established that it has 

access to sufficient information to estimate the maximum radiation dose for every type of cancer 

for which radiation doses are reconstructed that could have been incurred under plausible 

circumstances by any member of the class. Alternatively, radiation doses may be estimated with 

sufficient accuracy if NIOSH has established that it has access to sufficient information to estimate 

the radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a maximum dose estimate. 

NIOSH determined that there is insufficient information to estimate the radiation dose of 

individual members of the class with sufficient accuracy under the two abovementioned situations. 

The Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, advised the Secretary to designate the class as an 

addition to the SEC in a letter received by the Secretary on September 24, 2018. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico [SEC 00188] 

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IV. Designation Findings 

Infeasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy 

The Secretary established the infeasibility determination for the class of employees covered 

by this report based upon the findings summarized below. 

• NIOSH determined that members of the evaluated class may have received internal 

radiation exposure to plutonium, tritium, uranium, americium, and fission and activation 

products. 

• NIOSH found that exposures to the source terms varied for the period from January 1, 

1995, through December 31, 1996, which created varying potential exposure scenarios. 

NIOSH also found the available air monitoring data were insufficient for dose 

reconstruction. The transitional and developmental nature of Sandia National 

Laboratories’ internal monitoring program at the time also contributed to uncertainties 

associated with the monitoring data. Therefore, NIOSH lacks sufficient information, 

which includes personal and air monitoring data, to allow it to estimate the internal dose 

with sufficient accuracy for members of the proposed class. 

• NIOSH determined that members of the evaluated class may have received external 

radiation exposure to beta, gamma, and neutron radiation. 

• Based on NIOSH’s assessment of the facility’s external dosimetry program, the exposure 

data obtained through NIOSH’s data capture effort, and interviews with the facility’s 

personnel, NIOSH concluded that the facility’s external monitoring data was of a 

sufficient pedigree to complete individual dose reconstructions for the period from 

January 1, 1995, through December 31, 1996. Therefore, NIOSH found that it is possible 

to reconstruct external radiation doses for the proposed class. 

• Therefore, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH has concluded that there is 

insufficient information to either: (1) estimate the maximum radiation dose, for every 

type of cancer for which radiation doses are reconstructed, that could have been incurred 

under plausible circumstances by any member of the class; or (2) estimate the radiation 

doses more precisely than a maximum dose estimate for the any member of the class at 

Sandia National Laboratories for the time period from January 1, 1995, through 

December 31, 1996. 

• Although NIOSH found that it is not possible to completely reconstruct internal radiation 

doses for the proposed class, NIOSH intends to use any internal monitoring data that may 

become available for an individual claim (and that can be interpreted using existing 

NIOSH dose reconstruction processes or procedures). Therefore, dose reconstructions for 

individuals employed at Sandia National Laboratories for the time period from January 1, 

1995, through December 31, 1996, but who do not qualify for inclusion in the SEC, may 

be completed using these data as appropriate. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico [SEC 00188] 

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• The Board concurred with the NIOSH evaluation and recommended the proposed class 

for addition to the SEC. 

Health Endangerment 

The Secretary established the health endangerment determination for the class of employees 

covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below. 

(1) Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3), NIOSH established that there is a reasonable 

likelihood that such radiation doses may have endangered the health of members of the 

class. Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii), NIOSH specified a minimum duration of 

employment to satisfy this health endangerment criterion as “having been employed for a 

number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days within the parameters 

established for this class or in combination with work days within the parameters 

established for one or more other classes of employees in the Cohort.” 

(2) NIOSH did not identify any evidence from the petitioners or from other resources that 

would establish that the class was exposed to radiation during a discrete incident likely to 

have involved exceptionally high-level exposures, such as a nuclear criticality incident, 

as defined under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(i). 

(3) The Board concurred with NIOSH’s finding that the health of the class may have 

been endangered and defined the class according to the 250-work day requirement 

specified under 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(3)(ii). 

V. Effect and Effective Date of Designation 

The Secretary submits this report on the designation of one additional class to the SEC for 

review by Congress, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384l(14)(C)(ii) and 7384q(c)(2)(A), as 

amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.). Pursuant 

to 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(14)(C)(ii), as amended by the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, Pub. L. No. 108-375 (codified as amended in 

scattered sections of 42 U.S.C.), the designation in this report will become effective 30 days 

after the date of this report’s submission to Congress “unless Congress otherwise provides.” 

VI. Administrative Review of Designation 

The health endangerment determination of the designation provided in this report may be 

subject to an administrative review within HHS, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.18(a). On the 

basis of such a review, if the Secretary decides to expand the class of employees covered by 

this designation, the Secretary would transmit a supplementary report to Congress providing 

the expanded employee class definition and the criteria and findings on which the decision 

was based. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico [SEC 00188] 

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