HHS Determination Concerning a Petition to Add Members to the
 

Special Exposure Cohort
 

Under the
 

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000
 

Determination Concerning a Petition for Employees from
 

Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co.
 

Fort Wayne, Indiana
 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination:
 

Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co., Fort Wayne, Indiana
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I. Determination 

I, Sylvia M. Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have 

determined that the employees defined in Section II of this report do not meet the statutory criteria 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. 

[Signature on File] August 26, 2014 

Sylvia M. Burwell Date 

II. Employee Class Definition 

All Atomic Weapons Employees who worked for Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply 

Co. at the covered facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, from August 1, 1948, through 

December 31, 1952. 

III. Decision Criteria and Recommendations 

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, to designate a class for addition to the SEC, the Secretary must 

determine, upon recommendation of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (the 

Board), 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 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (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 it has 

access to sufficient site-specific information to reconstruct radiation doses incurred by the class of 

employees covered by this report with sufficient accuracy. 

In a letter received by the Secretary on June 10, 2014, the Board, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7384q, 

agreed with the following NIOSH findings, effectively advising the Secretary that radiation dose can 

be reconstructed with sufficient accuracy for employees at the Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co. 

in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in accordance with provisions of EEOICPA and the SEC final rule. 

IV. Determination Findings 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination: 

Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co., Fort Wayne, Indiana 

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Feasibility of Estimating Radiation Doses with Sufficient Accuracy 

The Secretary established the feasibility determination for the class of employees covered by this 

report based upon the findings summarized below. 

•	 Principal sources of internal radiation for members of the class included exposures to uranium 

and uranium oxides released into the work environment during the production and shaping of 

uranium metal rods. 

•	 NIOSH has access to sufficient information to reconstruct internal dose due to exposures to 

uranium at Joslyn during the period from August 1, 1948, through December 31, 1952. 

•	 NIOSH concluded that it is feasible to estimate internal exposures with sufficient accuracy for all 

workers at the site from August 1, 1948, through December 31, 1952. 

•	 Principal sources of external radiation for members of the class included exposures to gamma and 

beta radiation associated with handling and working in proximity to natural uranium metals 

during billing and machining operations. 

•	 NIOSH did not identify any external monitoring records, external area monitoring data, or 

personal dosimetry data associated with the uranium processing conducted during the period 

under evaluation. NIOSH obtained data consisting of source term data in the form of shipping 

transactions and accountability and contractual recordings of uranium materials to be machined 

by Joslyn. The data sources are copies of original reports and contracts and are therefore primary 

data sources. The data reported by Atomic Energy Commission representatives would have been 

collected in accordance with standard practices using state-of-the-art methods during that time 

period. Therefore, NIOSH concluded that sufficient data and information are available to 

estimate a bounding external dose from uranium by using the assumptions and approaches 

presented in Battelle-TBD-6000. 

•	 Although NIOSH found that medical x-rays were performed as a condition of employment, 

NIOSH has no further data regarding if medical x-ray examinations may have been performed 

on-site versus off-site. Consequently, NIOSH has determined that it will reconstruct occupational 

medical x-ray exposures for Joslyn workers by using existing NIOSH methods, ORUAT-OTIB0006, Rev. 4, Dose Reconstruction from Occupationally Related Diagnostic X-Ray Procedures, 

for all Joslyn workers during the evaluated period from March 1, 1943, through December 31, 

1952. 

•	 In sum, NIOSH determined that it has access to sufficient site-specific information to either (1) 

estimate the maximum internal and external radiation dose for every type of cancer for which 

radiation doses are reconstructed that could have been incurred under plausible circumstances by 

any workers at Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co. for the time period from August 1, 1948, 

through December 31, 1952; or (2) estimate the internal and external radiation doses to workers at 

the Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co. for the time period from August 1, 1948, through 

December 31, 1952, more precisely than a maximum dose estimate. 

•	 The Board concurred with NIOSH's determination that that dose reconstruction is 

feasible for the class of Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co. workers covered by 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination: 

Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co., Fort Wayne, Indiana 

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Petition 00200 for the period from January 1, 1948, through December 31, 1952, and 

therefore should not be added to the SEC. 

Health Endangerment 

Because the Secretary established that it is feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation 

doses encountered by employees at Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co., in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as 

specified in this class, a determination of health endangerment is not required. 

V. Effect of the Determination 

Members of the class of employees covered by this determination and their survivors continue to be 

eligible to submit claims for compensation under EEOICPA. As required for cancer claims covering 

other DOE and Atomic Weapons Employer employees (or Atomic Weapons Employees) not included 

in the SEC, qualified cancer claims under Part B of EEOICPA for members of this class will be 

adjudicated by the Department of Labor, in part on the basis of radiation dose reconstructions, which 

will be conducted by NIOSH. 

VI. Administrative Review of Determination 

The determination 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 designate 

the class of employees covered by this determination, in part or in whole, as an addition to the SEC, 

the Secretary would transmit a new report to Congress providing the designation and the criteria and 

findings on which the decision was based. 

HHS Special Exposure Cohort Determination: 

Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co., Fort Wayne, Indiana 

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