ORAU TEAM

Dose Reconstruction

Project for NIOSH

Oak Ridge Associated Universities I Dade Moeller & Associates I MJW Corporation

Page 1 of 9

Document Title:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - 

Introduction

Document Number: ORAUT-TKBS-0035-1 

Revision: 00 PC-1 

Effective Date: 09/12/2005

Type of Document: TBD

Supersedes: None

Subject Expert: Jay J. Maisler

Document Owner

Approval: Signature on File Approval Date: 06/23/2005

Jay J. Maisler, TBD Team Leader 

Approval: Signature on File Approval Date: 06/23/2005

Judson L. Kenoyer, Task 3 Manager

Concurrence: Signature on File Concurrence Date: 06/23/2005

Richard E. Toohey, Project Director

Approval: Signature on File Approval Date: 07/18/2005

James W. Neton, Associate Director for Science

 New Total Rewrite Revision Page Change

FOR DOCUMENTS MARKED AS A TOTAL REWRITE, REVISION, OR PAGE CHANGE, REPLACE THE PRIOR 

REVISION AND DISCARD / DESTROY ALL COPIES OF THE PRIOR REVISION.
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0035-1 Revision No. 00 PC-1 Effective Date: 09/12/2005 Page 2 of 9

PUBLICATION RECORD

EFFECTIVE 

DATE

REVISION 

NUMBER DESCRIPTION

06/02/2005 00-A New technical basis document for the Lawrence Livermore National 

Laboratory – Site Profile. Initiated by Jay J. Maisler.

06/03/2005 00-B Incorporates changes resulting from internal review comments. 

Initiated by Jay J. Maisler.

06/20/2005 00-C Incorporates changes resulting for OCAS review comments. Initiated 

by Jay J. Maisler.

07/18/2005 00 First approved issue. No training required. Initiated by Jay J. 

Maisler.

08/15/2005 00 PC-1-A Page change initiated to incorporate recent direction from NIOSH to 

include DOL review comments on page 5. No sections were deleted. 

Initiated by Jay J. Maisler. 

08/17/2005 00 PC-1-B No further changes occurred as a result of formal internal review. 

Initiated by Jay J. Maisler.

08/29/2005 00 PC-1-C Incorporates NIOSH review comments. Initiated by Jay J. Maisler.

09/12/2005 00 PC-1 Approved page change. Text was modified in Section 1.1. No 

sections were deleted. Page 5 was changed. Retraining is not 

required. Initiated by Jay J. Maisler.

Approval:

Jay J. Maisler, TBD Team Leader

Signature on File 09/07/2005 

Judson L. Kenoyer, Task 3 Manager

Signature on File 09/07/2005

Richard E. Toohey, Project Director

Signature on File 09/07/2005 

James W. Neton, Associate Director for Science

Signature on File 09/12/2005 
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0035-1 Revision No. 00 Effective Date: 07/18/2005 Page 3 of 9

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Publication Record ..............................................................................................................................2

Acronyms and Abbreviations ...............................................................................................................4

1.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 5

1.2 Purpose ......................................................................................................................................6

1.3 Scope .........................................................................................................................................6

1.3.1 Site Description ..................................................................................................................6

1.3.2 Occupational Medical Dose................................................................................................6

1.3.3 Occupational Environmental Dose .....................................................................................7

1.3.4 Occupational Internal Dose ................................................................................................7

1.3.5 Occupational External Dose ...............................................................................................8

References ..........................................................................................................................................9
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0035-1 Revision No. 00 Effective Date: 07/18//2005 Page 4 of 9

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

EEOICPA Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000

IMBA Integrated Modules for Bioassay Analysis

IREP Interactive RadioEpidemiological Program

LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

TBD Technical Basis Document

U.S.C. United States Code
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0035-1 Revision No. 00 PC-1 Effective Date: 09/12/2005 Page 5 of 9

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Site Profiles, which include Technical basis documents (TBDs), are not official determinations made 

by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) but are rather general working 

documents that provide historic background information and guidance to assist in the preparation of 

dose reconstructions at particular sites or categories of sites. They will be revised when additional 

relevant information is obtained about the affected site(s). These documents may be used to assist 

the NIOSH staff in the completion of the individual work required for each dose reconstruction.

In this document the word “facility” is used as a general term for an area, building or group of buildings 

that served a specific purpose at a site. It does not necessarily connote an “atomic weapons 

employer facility” or a “Department of Energy facility” as defined in the Energy Employees 

Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. § 7384l (5) and (12)). EEOICPA 

defines a DOE facility as “any building, structure, or premise, including the grounds upon which such 

building, structure, or premise is located ... in which operations are, or have been, conducted by, or 

on behalf of, the Department of Energy (except for buildings, structures, premises, grounds, or 

operations ... pertaining to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program).” 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(12). 

Accordingly, except for the exclusion for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program noted above, any 

facility that performs or performed DOE operations of any nature whatsoever is a DOE facility 

encompassed by EEOICPA.

For DOE employees with cancer, the DOE facility definition only determines eligibility for a dose 

reconstruction, which is a prerequisite to a compensation decision (except for members of the Special 

Exposure Cohort). The compensation decision for cancer claimants is based on a section of the 

statute entitled “Exposure in the Performance of Duty.” That provision (42 U.S.C. § 7384n(b)) says 

that an individual with cancer “shall be determined to have sustained that cancer in the performance 

of duty for purposes of the compensation program if, and only if, the cancer ... was at least as likely 

as not related to employment at the facility [where the employee worked], as determined in 

accordance with the [probability of causation] guidelines established under subsection (c) ....” 42 

U.S.C. § 7384n(b). Neither the statute nor the probability of causation guidelines (nor the dose 

reconstruction regulation) define “performance of duty” for DOE employees with a covered cancer or 

restrict the “duty” to nuclear weapons work.

As noted above, the statute includes a definition of a DOE facility that excludes “buildings, structures, 

premises, grounds, or operations covered by Executive Order No. 12344, dated February 1, 1982 (42 

U.S.C. 7158 note), pertaining to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.” 42 U.S.C. § 7384l(12). 

While this definition contains an exclusion with respect to the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, the 

section of EEOICPA that deals with the compensation decision for covered employees with cancer 

(i.e., 42 U.S.C. § 7384n(b), entitled “Exposure in the Performance of Duty”) does not contain such an 

exclusion. Therefore, the statute requires NIOSH to include all radiation exposures in its dose 

reconstructions for employees at DOE facilities, including radiation exposures related to the Naval 

Nuclear Propulsion Program. As a result, all internal and external dosimetry results are considered 

valid for use in dose reconstruction. No efforts are made to determine the eligibility of any fraction of 

total measured exposure for inclusion in dose reconstruction.

This Site Profile documents historical practices at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) 

and provides information for the evaluation of internal and external dosimetry data for unmonitored 

and monitored workers; it can serve as a supplement to, or substitute for, individual monitoring data. 
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0035-1 Revision No. 00 Effective Date: 07/18/2005 Page 6 of 9

1.2 PURPOSE

This Site Profile provides technical basis information to be used to evaluate the total occupational 

radiation dose that can reasonably be associated with a worker’s radiation exposure at LLNL. This 

dose results from exposure to external and internal radiation sources in LLNL facilities, to 

occupationally required diagnostic X-ray examinations, and to onsite environmental releases. This 

Site Profile includes methods for estimating doses that may have occurred while an employee was not 

monitored or inadequately monitored, or were missed due to analytical detection limits or incomplete 

or missing monitoring records (i.e., missed dose). Over the years LLNL has implemented new and 

more reliable scientific methods and protection measures. This Site Profile identifies these methods 

and measures. 

Dose reconstructors use the NIOSH Interactive RadioEpidemiological Program (IREP) and the 

Integrated Modules for Bioassay Analysis (IMBA) computer program to evaluate radiation doses. 

Information on measurement uncertainties is an integral component of the NIOSH approach. This 

Site Profile describes how to evaluate uncertainty associated with LLNL exposure and dosimetry 

records, which is an integral component of the NIOSH approach to dose reconstruction.

1.3 SCOPE

The Site Profile consists of this Introduction and five major TBDs: Site Description, Occupational 

Medical Dose, Occupational Environmental Dose, Occupational Internal Dose, and Occupational 

External Dose.

1.3.1

The Site Description TBD (ORAU 2005a) describes major LLNL facilities and operations. LLNL was 

founded in 1952 on the site of a closed U.S. Naval Air Station. It was originally known as the 

University of California Radiation Laboratory at Livermore, and later as the Lawrence Radiation 

Laboratory at Livermore. LLNL consists of two sites, the main Laboratory site, which is a densely 

populated mile-and-a-half square area in Livermore, California, and the 11-square-mile Explosive Test 

Site near Tracy, California, which is known as Site 300.

Site Description

In the beginning, the Laboratory’s single mission dealt with thermonuclear weapons development. 

Over the years, the mission has expanded to include diverse scientific and engineering research 

activities, but has focused primarily on research, development, and testing of the nuclear weapons life 

cycle and related tasks. 

1.3.2

The Occupational Medical Dose TBD (ORAU 2005b) provides information about the dose individual 

workers received from X-rays required as a condition of employment. Beginning in 1952, Health 

Services Department clinicians at LLNL prescribed chest X-ray examinations. From 1952 until about 

1993, baseline X-rays were required for all preemployment evaluations. Apart from the 

preemployment baseline posterior-anterior chest X-rays, LLNL apparently did not mandate routine 

examinations on a regular basis for employees. LLNL apparently introduced chest films for beryllium 

and asbestos workers in the 1980s with a frequency dependent on the age and exposure of the 

individual (Noonan 2002).

Occupational Medical Dose

ORAU (2005b) develops claimant-favorable estimates of doses from occupational medical X-rays to 

the lungs and other organs of the body. These doses, determined for chest examinations during 
Document No. ORAUT-TKBS-0035-1 Revision No. 00 Effective Date: 07/18/2005 Page 7 of 9

different periods, are based on the operating parameters of the machines and the conditions of 

exposure, insofar as these are known.

1.3.3

The Occupational Environmental Dose TBD (ORAU 2005c) applies to unmonitored workers, namely 

LLNL employees who did not wear external dosimetry or who were not monitored for internal 

exposures. At LLNL, everyone, including administrative personnel, wore some type of external 

radiation dosimetry beginning in March 1958 (Nolan 1958). To provide the basis for estimating the 

environmental dose for years when monitoring did not occur or was not sufficient to apply to 

coworkers, this TBD provides annual intakes and ambient external dose from 1952 (1955 for Site 300) 

to 2001 (the last year with publicly available data).

Occupational Environmental Dose

Inhalation of environmental radionuclides results in internal dose to the whole body or body organs. 

The TBD analysis determined the internal dose for workers outside the facilities from air 

concentrations resulting from releases from stacks and individual building releases. Unmonitored 

workers might have been exposed to occupational doses internally from onsite releases to the air. 

The TBD preparers reviewed site environmental reports for data that would be useful in reconstructing 

ambient radiation levels. Ambient radiation dose rates include natural background radiation and 

sources at the facility.

1.3.4

The Occupational Internal Dose TBD (ORAU 2005d) describes the internal dosimetry program at 

LLNL. Workers handled a variety of radionuclides as part of their routine tasks. The key elements in 

the source term are plutonium and tritium, although others were in use at various times and in various 

forms. 

Occupational Internal Dose

Prior to the early 1960s, the only methodology used to monitor LLNL employees for intakes of 

radionuclides was urine bioassay, with the primary focus on excreted tritium. It is not clear when 

bioassay monitoring first began, but it continues to the present for plutonium, americium, uranium, 

mixed fission products, a variety of tracer radionuclides, iodine, and tritium (Mansfield 2000). Air 

monitoring in workplaces and in the breathing zones of employees has been a common surveillance 

method. However, LLNL apparently did not use the data acquired from the air monitoring program to 

prepare the dose of record for employees; these data are not readily associated with individual 

exposures.

In vivo methodologies began on an investigational basis in 1964, with capabilities focused on highenergy (i.e., greater-than-200-keV) gamma emitters. In the 1970s, LLNL attempted to detect lowenergy photon emitters (i.e., 60-keV gammas from the decay of 241Am and plutonium L-shell X-rays). 

To this day, LLNL can provide a broad spectrum of in vivo counting services with varying degrees of 

detectability (Mansfield 2000). 

From at least the late 1980s (and possibly before), LLNL based the setting of action levels on the 

amount of radionuclide excreted or detected in the whole body (Mansfield 1989). Later, it based the 

assessment of intakes and even doses on in vivo and in vitro monitoring results, using computer 

programs developed in-house (Mansfield 2000). In vivo and in vitro analysis data records and 

associated interpretations from the 1960s appear to be retrievable.
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A review of in-house procedures used to assess the concentration of radioactivity in urine indicates 

that quality control steps were an integral part of the process (LLNL 1979). For example, duplicates 

were consistently run, and comparisons of results to “known quantities” were a critical step. 

Therefore, dose reconstructors can consider the in vitro results from in-house processing generally 

reliable. However, interpretation of those results can be difficult, primarily because LLNL might not 

have taken the contribution of environmental radioactivity (i.e., uranium, thorium) into account and, 

because samples might have been collected at work (i.e., “in-field” tritium analyses, Monday morning 

urines), cross-contamination could be an issue. 

1.3.5

The Occupational External Dose TBD (ORAU 2005e) describes the program for measuring skin and 

whole-body doses to workers from sources that were external to the body. LLNL workers were 

exposed to radiation from a variety of radioactive materials and radiation-producing machines. In 

addition, many worked at the Nevada Test Site or were involved with other weapons tests from which

they could have received radiation exposures. Personnel dosimeter records are generally available 

for all periods at LLNL for workers with the potential for occupational radiation exposure. The 

operations and radiation safety staff routinely reviewed dosimeter results for compliance with control 

limits and investigated doses approaching annual or quarterly dose limits. As noted above, beginning 

in March 1958 all individuals entering the site received external dosimetry devices (e.g., film badges 

or thermoluminescent dosimeters).

Occupational External Dose
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REFERENCES

LLNL (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), 1979, Radiochemical Procedures for Bioassay, 

Report No. M-104, Livermore, California.

Mansfield, W. G., 1989, Health and Safety Manual - LLNL Internal Dosimetry Program Manual, 

Supplement 33.10, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California.

Mansfield, W. G. and A. R. Wood-Zika, 2000, Technical Basis Manual for Internal Dosimetry, UCRLMA-147534, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California.

Nolan, W. E., 1958, “Progress Report on Film Badge Program,” memorandum to D. C. Sewell, 

November 13, 1958, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California.

Noonan, K., 2002, “NIOSH Request for Description of X-ray Protocols,” cover memorandum, May 17, 

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California. 

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associated Universities), 2005a, Technical Basis Document for Lawrence 

Livermore National Laboratory – Site Description, ORAUT-TKBS-0035-2, Oak Ridge, 

Tennessee.

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associated Universities), 2005b, Technical Basis Document for Lawrence 

Livermore National Laboratory – Occupational Medical Dose, ORAUT-TKBS-0035-3, Oak 

Ridge, Tennessee.

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associated Universities), 2005c, Technical Basis Document for Lawrence 

Livermore National Laboratory – Occupational Environmental Dose, ORAUT-TKBS-0035-4, 

Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associated Universities), 2005d, Technical Basis Document for Lawrence 

Livermore National Laboratory – Occupational Internal Dose, ORAUT-TKBS-0035-5, Oak 

Ridge, Tennessee.

ORAU (Oak Ridge Associated Universities), 2005e, Technical Basis Document for Lawrence 

Livermore National Laboratory – Occupational External Dose, ORAUT-TKBS-0035-6, Oak 

Ridge, Tennessee.