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 

Hanford Site 

Richland, Washington 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: 

Hanford Site, Richland, Washington 
I. Designation 

I, Sylvia M. Burwell, 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. 

 May 22, 2015 [Signature on File] 

Date Sylvia M. Burwell 

II. Employee Class Definition 

All employees of Department of Energy contractors and subcontractors 

(excluding employees of the following Hanford prime contractors during the 

specified time periods: Battelle Memorial Institute, January 1, 1984, through 

December 31, 1990; Rockwell Hanford Operations, January 1, 1984, through 

June 28, 1987; Boeing Computer Services Richland, January 1, 1984, through 

June 28, 1987; UNC Nuclear Industries, January 1, 1984, through June 28, 1987; 

Westinghouse Hanford Company, January 1, 1984, through December 31, 1990; 

and Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, January 1, 1984, through 

December 31, 1990), who worked at the Hanford site in Richland, Washington, 

during the period from January 1, 1984, through December 31, 1990, 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 included 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, 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 2 

Hanford Site, Richland, Washington 
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 the radiation dose of 

individual members of the class with sufficient accuracy under the two abovementioned 

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 April 24, 2015 

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. 

	 Principal sources of internal radiation exposures for members of the proposed class 

included exposures radionuclides such as: isotopes of uranium, thorium, and plutonium; 

neptunium-237; americium-241; tritium; and mixed fission and activation products. 

	 NIOSH does not have access to sufficient personnel monitoring, workplace monitoring, 

or source term data to estimate potential internal radiation exposures for construction 

trades workers during fuel handling, reactor operations, fuel reprocessing, or researchrelated radionuclides during the period from January 1, 1984, through December 31, 

1990. 

	 Consequently, NIOSH finds that it is not feasible to estimate, with sufficient accuracy, 

potential internal doses for the proposed class of workers during the period from January 

1, 1984, through December 31, 1990. 

	 The principal sources of external radiation for members of the proposed class included 

exposures to beta and photon radiation associated with various enrichments of uranium, 

activation and fission products, and high-energy betas and photons in the separations and 

research facilities. 

	 NIOSH has determined that available external monitoring data may be used in 

accordance with existing procedures on a case-by-case basis for the purpose of partial 

dose reconstructions. 

	 Consistent with previous NIOSH determinations associated with the evaluations of SEC00057, SEC-00152, and SEC-00201, NIOSH has determined that adequate reconstruction 

of medical dose is likely to be feasible by using claimant-favorable assumptions in the 

technical information bulletin Dose Reconstruction from Occupational Medical X-Ray 

Procedures (ORAUT-OTIB-0006) and the Hanford site profile documents. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 3 

Hanford Site, Richland, Washington 
	 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 with included contractors and subcontractors 

during the period from January 1, 1984, through December 31, 1990, 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 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 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Designation: Page 4 

Hanford Site, Richland, Washington 
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: Page 5 

Hanford Site, Richland, Washington