HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Electro Metallurgical, Niagara Falls, New York

 

HHS 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 

Electro Metallurgical Site 

 Niagara Falls, New York 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Electro Metallurgical, Niagara Falls, New York 

Page 2

I. Designation 

I, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 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. 

____May 11, 2012_____ __[Signature on file]_________ 

 Date Kathleen Sebelius

II. Employee Class Definition 

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

and their contractors and subcontractors who worked at the Electro 

Metallurgical site in Niagara Falls, New York, from August 13, 1942 

through December 31, 1947, 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. 

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 April 11, 

2012.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Electro Metallurgical, Niagara Falls, New York 

Page 3

IV. Designation Findings 

Feasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy 

The Secretary established the feasibility determination for the class of employees 

covered by this report based upon the findings summarized below. 

 NIOSH has determined that the principal sources of internal radiation for 

members of the proposed class included exposures to uranium and its short-lived 

progeny present in uranium metal fabrication and scrap recovery operations. 

The modes of exposure were inhalation and ingestion of dust generated during 

the various processes. 

 NIOSH finds it is not feasible to estimate internal exposures with sufficient 

accuracy for all workers at the site from August 13, 1942 through December 31, 

1947. Internal monitoring data, work area radiological monitoring data, and 

source term data are not sufficient to provide a sufficiently accurate estimate of 

the bounding internal dose during this early period at the Electro Metallurgical 

site. 

 NIOSH has determined that neither the bioassay nor the early limited air 

sampling data are sufficient to bound the dose at Electro Metallurgical for the 

August 13, 1942 through December 31, 1947 portion of the period under 

evaluation. Based on health improvements described as occurring in late 1947, 

the internal dose related data collected after 1947 cannot be extrapolated to 

exposures occurring prior to 1948 at Electro Metallurgical.

 NIOSH has determined that the principal sources of external radiation for 

members of the proposed class included exposures to uranium derived from 

naturally-occurring ores exhibiting a natural isotopic abundance. 

 NIOSH has several thousand external dosimetry measurements (primarily from 

the second operational period from October 1, 1947 through September 30, 

1949), and has determined that the available external data and process 

knowledge allow for an upper-bound dose to be estimated, and therefore NIOSH 

finds it can bound external dose with sufficient accuracy. 

 NIOSH finds that it is likely feasible to reconstruct occupational external dose for 

Electro Metallurgical with sufficient accuracy. 

 Considering these findings, NIOSH concludes that it is not feasible to estimate 

internal exposures with sufficient accuracy for all workers at the employed at 

Electro Metallurgical during the period from August 13, 1942 through December 

31, 1947. The basis of this finding demonstrates that NIOSH does not have 

access to sufficient information to estimate either the maximum radiation dose 

incurred by any member of the class or to estimate such radiation doses more 

precisely than a maximum dose estimate for that period. 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Electro Metallurgical, Niagara Falls, New York 

Page 4

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

doses for the proposed class, NIOSH intends to use any internal and external 

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 Electro 

Metallurgical during the period from August 13, 1942 through December 31, 

1947, but who do not qualify for inclusion in the SEC, may be performed using 

these data as appropriate. 

 NIOSH finds that it is feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, occupational 

medical dose for this class of employees using the assumptions and applicable 

protocols in the complex-wide Technical Information Bulletin, Dose 

Reconstruction from Occupationally Related Diagnostic X-Ray Procedures

(ORAUT-OTIB-0006). 

 Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH determined 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 of members of the class more precisely than a 

maximum dose estimate. 

 For the period from January 1, 1948 through June 30, 1953, a health 

endangerment determination is not required because NIOSH has determined 

that it has sufficient information to estimate dose for the members of the 

evaluated class. 

 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 (excluding 

aggregate work day requirements) established for one or more other classes 

of employees in the Cohort.” 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Electro Metallurgical, Niagara Falls, New York 

Page 5

(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.