U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

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 

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) 

Scoville, Idaho 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC 00219] 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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. 

Date 

June 21, 2019 

Alex M. Azar II, Secretary 

[Signature on File]

II. Employee Class Definition 

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

subcontractors who worked at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in Scoville, Idaho, and who 

were monitored for external radiation at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (CPP) (e.g., at 

least one film badge or TLD dosimeter from CPP) between January 1, 1963, and February 28, 

1970, 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. 

NIOSH determined that there is insufficient information to estimate with sufficient accuracy the 

alpha radiation dose of members of the class under the two abovementioned situations. The Board, 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC 00219] 

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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 May 22, 2019. 

IV. Designation Findings 

Infeasibility of Estimating with Sufficient Accuracy Radiation Doses 

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

by this report based on the findings summarized below. 

• NIOSH determined that the potential for internal radiation exposure at CPP during the 

period between January 1, 1963, and February 28, 1970, was related to its primary 

operations of processing spent fuel elements containing enriched uranium for the 

recovery of the unfissioned uranium. 

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

radiation exposure from inhalation and ingestion of various isotopes of uranium, thorium, 

plutonium, neptunium, tritium, exotic radionuclides (produced from, or as a result of, 

reactor neutron irradiation), and mixed fission and activation products (MFP/MAP). 

• NIOSH has not located sufficient personnel or area monitoring documentation to estimate 

internal alpha dose for workers at INL for the time period between January 1, 1963, and 

February 28, 1970. 

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

radiation exposure from exposures to beta-gamma radiation and neutrons from various 

isotopes of uranium, thorium, plutonium, neptunium, exotic radionuclides (produced 

from, or as a result of, reactor neutron irradiation), and MFP/MAP. 

• NIOSH has access to sufficient personnel and area-monitoring data to estimate external 

and occupational medical doses for the time period between January 1, 1963, and 

February 28, 1970. 

NIOSH finds that in the absence of available personnel and workplace monitoring data for the 

site’s activities, it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy internal alpha dose (i.e., 

dose from uranium, thorium, and transuranics such as plutonium and neptunium) for INL CPP 

workers during the period between January 1, 1963, and February 28, 1970. 

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 any member of the class at INL for the time period between January 1, 1963, and 

February 28, 1970. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC 00219] 

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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 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 INL CPP during the 

period between January 1, 1963, and February 28, 1970, but who do not qualify for inclusion in 

the SEC, may be performed using these data as appropriate. 

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-workday 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.” 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC 00219] 

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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: 

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC 00219] 

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