HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Revere Copper and Brass, Detroit Michigan

 

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 

Revere Copper and Brass

Detroit, Michigan
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Revere Copper and Brass, Detroit, Michigan 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.

 October 6, 2010________ [Signature on File]_____________

Date Kathleen Sebelius

II. Employee Class Definition

All Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked at Revere Copper and 

Brass, Detroit, Michigan, from July 24, 1943 through December 31, 1954, 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 September 7, 

2010. 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Revere Copper and Brass, Detroit, Michigan 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.

• Principal sources of internal radiation exposures for members of the proposed 

class included exposures to uranium and thorium particulates and fumes. 

• NIOSH presented an SEC Petition Evaluation Report for Petition SEC-00164, 

Revere Copper and Brass to the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health 

during the Advisory Board’s regular meeting on August 11, 2010. This report 

provided NIOSH’s evaluation of the feasibility of reconstructing radiation doses 

for workers who worked in any area and in any job capacity at the Revere 

Copper and Brass site during the period from July 24, 1943 through December 

31, 1954, and for the residual period from January 1, 1955 through December 

31, 1984. 

• NIOSH has not located urinalysis or other bioassay monitoring data for the 

periods under evaluation at Revere Copper and Brass. During the process of its 

evaluation, NIOSH did not locate comprehensive information regarding the 

following: the specific operations performed at the site; the exact workload data 

for the site’s radiological operations; or the thorium sources or source terms at 

the site during the operational period. In its Technical Basis Documents, NIOSH 

has identified methods to support bounding internal uranium dose for the type of 

metal work performed at Revere Copper and Brass during the operational period. 

However, NIOSH has not identified sufficient information or data to support 

bounding the thorium exposures for the operational period.

• NIOSH finds that it is not feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, the total 

internal dose for workers at the Revere Copper and Brass site during the 

operational period from July 24, 1943 through December 31, 1954. Although 

NIOSH has identified significant issues impacting its ability to bound internal 

doses for the evaluated class during the operational period from July 24, 1943 

through December 31, 1954, at the Revere Copper and Brass site, NIOSH has 

information about radiological conditions at the end of the operational period and 

has technical basis documents that utilize such information to support bounding 

personnel internal doses for the residual period from January 1, 1955 through 

December 31, 1984. 

• Principal sources of external radiation exposures for employees of Revere 

Copper and Brass included gamma (photon) and beta radiation associated with 

handling and working in proximity to uranium, uranium compounds, and thorium. 

• NIOSH has not identified any external monitoring records or personal dosimetry 

data associated with the uranium and thorium processing conducted during the 

periods under evaluation. This was a unique project for which there were no 

operational logs, minimal descriptions of activities, and little corresponding 

radiological data. NIOSH has not identified any radiological surveys during the 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Revere Copper and Brass, Detroit, Michigan Page 4

periods under evaluation. NIOSH has identified methods in its technical basis 

documents to bound external uranium dose for the type of metal work performed 

during the operational period at Revere Copper and Brass. However, NIOSH 

has not identified sufficient information or data to bound the thorium external 

exposures for the operational period.

• Therefore, NIOSH finds that it is not feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, 

the total external dose for workers at the Revere Copper and Brass site during 

the period from July 24, 1943 through December 31, 1954. Although NIOSH has 

identified significant issues impacting its ability to bound doses for the evaluated 

class during the operational period from July 24, 1943 through December 31, 

1954, at the Revere Copper and Brass site, NIOSH has information about 

radiological conditions at the end of the operational period and technical basis 

documents that utilize such information to support bounding personnel external 

doses for the residual period from January 1, 1955 through December 31, 1984. 

• NIOSH found evidence that all new employees received physical exams prior to 

the start of work, and occupational X-ray examinations were performed every six 

months during the operational period. However NIOSH found no X-ray records. 

NIOSH believes it is possible to reconstruct with sufficient accuracy the 

occupational medical X-ray dose for the evaluated periods using existing 

technical basis documents and/or technical information bulletins.

• 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.

• NIOSH documented that it cannot complete the dose reconstructions related to 

this petition with sufficient accuracy for the employees who worked at the Revere 

Copper and Brass site during the operational period from July 24, 1943 through 

December 31, 1954. 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.

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

doses for employees who worked at the Revere Copper and Brass site during 

the operational period from July 24, 1943 through December 31, 1954, NIOSH 

intends to use any reliable internal and external monitoring data that may be 

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

NIOSH dose reconstruction processes or procedures) to support a partial dose 

reconstruction for non-presumptive cancers and/or cases that have less than 250 

work days of employment.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Revere Copper and Brass, Detroit, Michigan Page 5

• 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).

• 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.”

(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). 

IV. 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.”
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Revere Copper and Brass, Detroit, Michigan Page 6

V. 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.