HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC Petition 00238] 

 

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 

Idaho National Laboratory

 Scoville, Idaho 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC Petition 00238] Page 2

I. Designation 

I, Eric D. Hargan, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department 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. 

 November 22, 2017 [Signature on File]

Date Eric D. Hargan, Acting Secretary

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, 1975, and December 31, 1980, for a 

number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, occurring 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.
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC Petition 00238] Page 3

NIOSH determined that there is insufficient information to estimate the radiation dose of 

individual members of the class with sufficient accuracy under the two above-mentioned 

situations. 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 October 30, 2017. 

IV. Designation Findings

Infeasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy

The Secretary designates the class of employees covered by this report based upon the 

findings summarized below. 

• NIOSH has identified the principal source of internal radiation dose for members of 

the proposed class at the CPP for the period between January 1, 1975, and December 

31, 1980, was from mixed fission products, uranium, and transuranic radionuclides 

from processing spent fuel elements that contained enriched uranium. 

• NIOSH has concluded, based on its assessment of the available employee monitoring 

data, that there are insufficient internal dosimetry data or air monitoring data 

available to bound intakes of transuranic radionuclides for the time period between 

January 1, 1975, and December 31, 1980. Therefore, NIOSH lacks sufficient 

information to allow it to estimate with sufficient accuracy the potential internal 

exposures to transuranic radionuclides to which the proposed class of workers may 

have been subjected. 

• NIOSH also found that internal doses, with the exception of transuranic radionuclides 

can be adequately reconstructed using information and dose reconstruction methods 

stated in Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory-West—

Occupational Internal Dose, Rev. 03, Oak Ridge Associated Universities Team, 

Technical Basis Document (ORAUT-TKBS)-0007-5. 

• NIOSH has identified the principal sources of external radiation dose for members of 

the proposed class included exposures to beta, gamma, and neutron radiation. 

• NIOSH determined that the beta-gamma external dose potential at CPP between 

January 1, 1975, and December 31, 1980, was associated with the handling and 

storage of spent fuel, fuel reprocessing, laboratory analyses of product streams, and 

disposal of process wastes. The neutron external dose potential at CPP during this 

period was primarily associated with the handling enriched uranium, transuranic 

radionuclides, and spontaneous fission of radionuclides. Monitoring data are 

available for CPP in the form of individual dosimetry records and area exposure 

reports. 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC Petition 00238] Page 4

• NIOSH determined that external radiation doses can be reconstructed for this class of 

CPP employees using Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National LaboratoryWest—Occupational External Dose, Rev. 03, ORAUT-TKBS-0007-6. 

• NIOSH also determined that occupational medical doses and environmental doses can 

be reconstructed using Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory 

– West – Occupational Medical Dose, Rev. 02, ORAUT-TKBS-0007-3 and Idaho 

National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory-West—Occupational 

Environmental Dose, Rev. 02, ORAUT-TKBS-0007-4, respectively. 

• In summary, NIOSH has determined that it lacks sufficient information, which 

includes employee monitoring data and air monitoring data, to allow it to estimate 

with sufficient accuracy the potential internal exposures to transuranic radionuclides 

to which the proposed class may have been subjected. NIOSH finds that it has 

sufficient information to reconstruct other potential internal exposures, external 

exposures, and occupational medical dose for INL-CPP employees with sufficient 

accuracy.

• Therefore, pursuant to 42 C.F.R. § 83.13(c)(1), NIOSH has 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 more precisely than a maximum dose estimate for the any member 

of the class at INL-CPP for the time period between January 1, 1975, and December 

31, 1980. 

• 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 INL-CPP for the time 

period between January 1, 1975, through December 31, 1980, but who do not qualify 

for inclusion in the SEC, may be completed using these data as appropriate. 

• 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 
HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation:

Idaho National Laboratory, Scoville, Idaho [SEC Petition 00238] Page 5

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.” 

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.