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 the finding of NIOSH 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 designation of one additional class to the SEC
for review by Congress, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 7384/(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. § 7384/(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:
General Atomics


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

General Atomics
La Jolla, California

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:
General Atomics


I. Designation

I, Michael O. Leavitt, 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.

__FEB 16 2007 :
Fry

Date Michael O. Leavitt

Il. | Employee Class Definition

Atomic Weapons Employer (AWE) employees who were monitored or should
have been monitored for exposure to ionizing radiation while working at the
General Atomics facility in La Jolla, California at the following locations: Science
Laboratories A, B, and C (Building 2); Experimental Building (Building 9);
Maintenance (Building 10); Service Building (Building 11); Buildings 21 and 22;
Hot Cell Facility (Building 23); Waste Yard (Buildings 25 and 26); Experimental
Area (Buildings 27 and 27-1); LINAC Complex (Building 30); HTGR-TCF
(Building 31); Fusion Building (Building 33); Fusion Doublet III (Building 34);
SV-A (Building 37); SV-B (Building 39); and SV-D (no building number) for a
number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days from January 1, 1960,
through December 31, 1969, or in combination with work days within the
parameters

Ill. Designation Criteria and Recommendations

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384g, 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

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:
General Atomics


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 ina letter received by the Secretary on January 19,
2007.

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 upon the findings summarized below.

(1) General Atomics AWE employees in the proposed class could have received
internal and external radiation exposures from uranium, thorium, plutonium,
and other radioactive materials.

(2) NIOSH lacks sufficient information, including biological monitoring data, air
monitoring information, and process and radiological source information, that
would allow it to estimate the potential intakes(s) of thorium, and the resulting
dose to which the proposed class may have been exposed for the period from
January 1, 1960, through December 31, 1969.

(3) Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH determined that there is insufficient
information either 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, or to estimate the
radiation doses of members of the class more precisely than a maximum dose
estimate.

(4) Although NIOSH is unable to adequately estimate total internal exposures for
members of the class, internal dose due to intake of uranium can be
reconstructed for exposures starting in October 1963, and tritium internal dose
can be estimated after September 1965. NIOSH considers the reconstruction of
occupational external radiation doses, including medical dose to be feasible for
members of the class.

Health Endangerment

The Secretary established the health endangerment determination for the class of
employees covered by this report 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

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:
General Atomics