HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Mound Plant, Miamisburg, Ohio

 

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 

Mound Plant

Miamisburg, Ohio
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Mound Plant, Miamisburg, Ohio

Page 2

I. Designation 

I, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary), 

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.

December 7, 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 Mound Plant in 

Miamisburg, Ohio, from September 1, 1972, through December 31, 1972, or 

from January 1, 1975, through December 31, 1976, 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 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 November 7, 

2012. 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Mound Plant, Miamisburg, Ohio

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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 determined that members of this class may have received radiation 

exposures from radon isotopes and progeny originating from residual 

radioactive material associated with the Ra-Ac-Th process conducted in the 

SW Building. The technologically-enhanced radon emanated into Room SW19 and was potentially distributed throughout the R and SW buildings. 

• NIOSH found no workplace monitoring records after February 1955 relevant 

to the radon exposures in the R and SW buildings until air measurements 

were made in 1979 and 1980. NIOSH also lacks activity data for the residual 

Ra-Ac-Th source term affecting Room SW-19 and it subsequent distribution 

throughout the SW building and the corridor of the R building, that was 

contiguous with the SW building. Therefore, NIOSH has concluded that it 

lacks sufficient monitoring data and source term information to perform 

adequate individual dose reconstructions for workers during the periods 

under evaluation. 

• From September 1, 1972, through December 31, 1972, and from January 1, 

1975, through December 31, 1976, NIOSH cannot determine which 

employees at the Mound facility were exposed to radon in the R and SW 

buildings. Consequently, NIOSH finds that it is not feasible to estimate, with 

sufficient accuracy, internal exposures to radon and resulting doses for the 

class of employees covered by this evaluation.

• The principle sources of external exposure included beta, gamma, and 

neutron radiation emitted from a variety of research, development, analytical, 

recovery, and surveillance activities. 

• Consistent with its findings associated with SEC-00090, NIOSH has 

established that it has access to sufficient information to: (1) estimate the 

maximum external 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 external 

radiation doses to members of the class more precisely than a maximum 

dose estimate. 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Mound Plant, Miamisburg, Ohio

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• NIOSH determined in its evaluation that adequate reconstruction of medical 

dose is likely to be feasible by using bounding assumptions in the technical 

information bulletin, Dose Reconstruction from Occupational Medical X-Ray 

Procedures (ORAUT-OTIB-0006), and Mound technical basis documents, 

collectively referred to as ORAUT-TKBS-0016.

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

radiation doses for the periods from September 1, 1972, through December 

31, 1972, or from January 1, 1975, through December 31, 1976, NIOSH 

intends to use any monitoring data that may become available for an 

individual claim (and that can be interpreted using existing NIOSH dose 

reconstruction processes or procedures). Dose reconstructions for individuals 

employed at Mound during the periods from September 1, 1972, through 

December 31, 1972, or from January 1, 1975, through December 31, 1976, 

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

these data as appropriate.

• 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.

• The Board concurred with NIOSH’s recommendation to add the proposed

class of workers 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). 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Mound Plant, Miamisburg, Ohio

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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.